The Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids live in community at Marywood. They have given their lives to be available to one another and to others.
They have spent their lives as Sisters learning to live communally, learning to live by example: “let all things be done to build each other up.”
Sister Marilyn Holmes is the Transportation Coordinator on the Transportation Ministry Team at Marywood. Her work is a dizzying road map of schedules, appointments, varying locations, and always, availability. Additional Sisters serve as drivers, companions for doctor visits and hospital stays.
Sister Marilyn explains, the transportation ministry is more than just driving; it is accompaniment. It would be a mistake to trivialize it. “In the lives of the Sisters being helped, it is a very big deal.”
Through her example, Sister Marilyn teaches that availability isn’t passive. Available isn’t a state of being or something you become. You make yourself available. Ministries like Sister Marilyn’s demonstrate how all people can pursue a life journey with compassion and accompaniment as core values.
One doesn’t have to be a Sister to be of service. All people are called to make a difference in the lives of people who need them.
When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to build each other up. (1 Corinthians 14:26)
Read more about the Sister ministries on the campus of Marywood.