A RULE OF LIFE BEN POHL
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s I sat in the convent parlor, finishing my interview with the sisters, I watched as the novices slowly made their way into the chapel. A bell soon rang for Evening Prayer and my time was up. As I said my goodbyes and walked home, I considered the beauty of the sisters’ vow of obedience. The vow is certainly made to Christ and their order’s superiors. But in a special way this counter cultural vow is fulfilled by the daily obedience to a rule of life that constrains in order to make free. The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist here at Resurrection begin a typical day at 5:00 am when they rise and prepare for their Holy Hour with the Lord. After Mass and breakfast, they’re off to Resurrection School and Lansing Catholic High School. “We hear so often in our formation that ‘you can’t give what you don’t have,’” remarks Sr. James Karol as she considers the apostolic impact of their morning routine. “If you don’t already have that relationship within, then you wouldn’t be able to bring it to your students.” When they return home, they make a visit to our Lord in the convent chapel and take time to cook, socialize, and complete household chores. Each time
the sisters arrive at or depart from the convent, or Lansing Catholic, they make a brief visit to our Lord, making tangible the words of the Psalmist, “The Lord will watch over your coming and going” (Ps 121:8). At 5:00 pm the sisters follow the sound of the bell into the chapel for Evening Prayer and their daily Rosary. After dinner and recreation the day begins to wind down at 7:30 pm with spiritual reading and Night Prayer. Each sister then takes time for personal prayer and makes her preparations for the coming day before silence at 10:00 pm. Their daily schedule is punctuated by bells in the way of monastic life, from morning until night. “We have a lot of bells in our life,” Sr. Mary André shares, with a laugh, “But on Good Friday and Holy Saturday we don’t ring bells, even for prayer.” The sisters return to the Mother House in Ann Arbor for the Triduum, and experience together the hushed time after Good Friday and before Easter. All this waiting leads to great joy in the celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection at the Easter Vigil. “When the bells come back,” recalls Sr. Mary Lawrence with excitement, “it’s a really big deal at the Mother House. [During the Gloria] two sisters
