The Sisters share in common every aspect of their life. The Sisters pray together, eat together, serve in the schools together, relax, and study together.
Cherishing the example of Saint Dominic, the Sisters live a monastic discipline structured around a common life that fosters contemplation and the apostolic work of study, teaching, and evangelization.
Recognizing the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian life (Lumen Gentium, 11), the St. Mary Sisters place the Blessed Sacrament at the center of their lives. Through a daily period of adoration, the Sisters encounter the risen Lord with a “personal knowledge” (Essential Elements, 28). In this way, she ensures that she is rooted in Christ who, as He did for the rich young man, looks upon her, and loves her. By drawing close to the Eucharistic Lord, the Sisters participate in the radical self-emptying of Christ.
Desiring as Saint Dominic de Guzman did to contemplate and give to others the fruits of his contemplation, the Sisters participate in a life of communal prayer and the Liturgy of the Hours and in doing so, are dedicated essentially to the interior life “which draws the Word, the Father, and the Spirit to itself” (Starting Afresh in Christ, 25).
Assuming Our Lady as their exemplar and model of perfection and religious consecration, the Sisters turn to Mary, Mother of the Church, whose fiat brought about the redemption of the human race. Imitating her ‘yes’ to bring about the salvation of souls, the Sisters “enter more intimately into the great mystery of the Incarnation” (Lumen Gentium, 65), emulating her maternal love of Christ in their care for souls. In their daily adherence to Marian devotions, the Sisters fly to the Virgin most powerful, Refuge of Sinners and Help of Christians, imitating her perseverance in affliction, and ready acceptance of many sorrows, and echoing her soul’s joyful proclamation of the greatness of the Lord (Code of Canon Law 663, §4).