Learn to pray, discern, and grow as a disciple with DJM’s two-year formation program.
As a Catholic who wants to grow in your faith, you already have a prayer life and a desire to follow God’s will. But the demands and distractions of daily life make it hard to know what God is calling you to do. Sometimes, you struggle to rest in His love and recognize the ways He’s moving in your life. The DJM formation program was designed to help you cut through the noise and get to the heart of God’s love and plan for you.
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This formation program begins with a two-year journey designed to help you grow closer to God in prayer, discern His plan for your life, and follow this plan with freedom and joy. While the structure of the program is unique, these time-tested spiritual tools have formed many saints and holy people since the beginning of the Church.
You’ll pray daily and reflect on workbook materials and spiritual reading drawn from the teachings of the Church, the wisdom of the saints, and Fr. Pinto’s writings.
Twice a month, you’ll meet with your DJM group to pray the Rosary and discuss what you’ve learned (remote options are available for those who do not live near a group).
There will also be periodic retreats to conclude each of the three phases of formation and prepare you for the next phase.
The first phase of formation lasts six months and focuses on prayer. You’ll begin by discovering your plan of life, which recognizes how God is working through your many experiences. With this foundation, you’ll grow in understanding who you are as God’s beloved child. You’ll also learn essential principles for prayer from saints and spiritual masters.
This foundation of prayer will prepare you for the next phase of formation: Discernment in Your Life.
This second phase of the program also lasts six months, building upon phase one. Using your plan of life and the principles of prayer, you’ll learn to recognize how God speaks to you, what He’s calling you to do, and how to do it. You will gain skills to help you discern decisions both big and small. This will build your confidence in understanding and following God’s will in your daily life.
Equipped with the tools of prayer and discernment, you’ll move on to phase three: Discipleship, Your Way of Life.
The call of every Catholic is to be a disciple, and the tools of prayer and discernment enable you to fulfill this call. This third and final phase of formation lasts for one year, allowing you time to apply what you’ve learned. You’ll gain firsthand knowledge and experience by practicing the principles of prayer and discernment in your everyday life.
The fruits you’ll experience from this two-year formation are gifts you’ll keep unpacking, even as this journey continues to bear fruit in your life.
By the end of this two-year journey, you will have the tools to:
Plus, you’ll have gained a loving community of brothers and sisters who have walked this path with you.
Ongoing formation is the bridge to living the path of discipleship. When disciples complete the initial formation, they are invited to meet with other formed disciples to learn about the DJM mission and way of life. This follows the structure of DJM and includes more teachings on how disciples are called to carry on the work. Once they discover what that is and follow it, they grow as a family bearing witness to the Gospel in their daily lives and in service to the Church.
DJM has helped form thousands of laity into fruitful servants of the Church. Here’s what some of them have had to say about the impact of this formation on their lives.
Reach out to us, and we’ll connect you with your local DJM community to get started.