Initiation to the Religious Life

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. * Amen. The Lord be with you. * And also with you.

Questioning
Presider:
Dear brothers, what inspires you to live among us?

Postulants:
We desire to experience your way of life, with hope of joining your Augustinian Family, to live as disciples of Christ in the spirit of Saint Augustine.

Presider:
May the Lord grant this desire of yours. You will certainly be among the disciples of Christ, if you open your heart everyday to prayer and listening to the word of God so as to receive the sanctifying light of the inner teacher. R/ Amen.

Conferral of the Religious Habit

When the questioning of the postulants is completed, the religious habit may be conferred. The following prayer is used to bless the habit.

Presider:
Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, You clothed yourself with the garb of our mortal flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We ask you to bless + this habit which our holy predecessors wore as a sign of innocence and humility. May your servants who will wear this habit merit to be clothed with immortality,

for you live and reign for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
The habits are sprinkled with water and given to the postulants.

Prayer
After the request for admission, the prior then says:

Presider:
Let us pray. Lord God, you give us the desire to hear your call. Listen favorably to the prayers of your servants who, seeking to serve you faithfully, ask to join our community. Grant that our life in common may become a communion of love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Celebration of the Word of God

Suitable texts from the holy scripture are then read, with appropriate responses. After the readings, the presider addresses the novices and the community on the religious life and the spirit and characteristics of the Order.

Acceptance to the Novices

The prior accepts the requests of the novices in the following words:

Presider:
My brothers, in light of the word of God which we have heard proclaimed and in the name of this Augustinian community, I accept your request to be admitted to the novitiate of our Order.
The novices respond:

Thanks be to God.

Concluding Rite
The rite concludes with the intercessions. The presider introduces the intercessions with one of the following:

Presider:
My dear brothers, let us pray for these our novices who, better to serve God and the Church, desire to serve experience the Augustinian way of life. Let us pray together and say: Hear us, O Lord.

Reader:
For the holy Church, the virgin espoused to Christ, that she may become ever more holy in these sons of hers: we pray to the Lord. R. Hear us, O Lord. For these our brothers, who begin their time of novitiate, that under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary they may fulfill the will of the Father with faith and love: we pray to the Lord. R. Hear us, O Lord. For these our brothers, who today begin their Augustinian common life, that they may live everyday their gift of self: we pray to the Lord. R. Hear us, O Lord.

The presider concludes:

Presider:
Lord, you are the origin of every perfect gift and the source of all our good intentions.

Bring to fulfillment what you have inspired in these sons of yours and grant that by living with us they may grow day by day in the interior experience of your love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen. Our Father . . .
After the Lords Prayer those present may exchange the sign of peace with the novices. The presider calls forward the master of novices and demands him to be their guide in their search for God and entrusts them officially to his care. The celebration ends with these or similar words:

Presider:
My brothers, let us close this celebration by invoking the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, her spouse, protector of the Order, our holy father Augustine, and all the Saints of the Augustinian Family that they may intercede for us before God our Father. R/ Amen.
The presider blesses all present, saying:

Presider:
May the name of the Lord be praised. * Now and for ever. May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, + and Holy Spirit, come upon you and remain with you fro ever. R/ Amen.