Letter to Dominican prioresses on World Day of Consecrated Life 2026
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Rome, 2 February 2026
Prot. n. 70/26/035 Varia_General
To the Prioresses of Dominican Monasteries
DEAR SISTERS,
With joy, I greet you and all the sisters as the Church celebrates the World Day of Consecrated Life. On this day of thanksgiving, we recognize anew the beauty of lives given wholly to God for the sake of the Gospel and the Church.
I write to you with deep respect for the office you now hold and with genuine brotherly affection in the Lord and in St. Dominic. I am mindful of both the responsibility and the grace entrusted to you as Prioress of a Dominican monastery. Your “yes” to this call is itself a sign of generous love and trust in God.
The office of prioress is of great importance for the life of our contemplative communities. For this reason, the International Commission of Nuns of our Order has proposed the establishment of a workshop for newly elected prioresses of monasteries, similar to the workshop held at Santa Sabina for new priors provincial. It is my hope that, with the assistance of our new Promoter General, Fr. Cristobal Torres, the next meeting of the International Commission will approve this program and discern together the best way to bring it to life.
This office you have accepted is no small thing. It calls upon you not only administratively, but also spiritually, personally, and communally. It is a ministry of presence, attentive listening, patient discernment, and often quiet, hidden sacrifice. Your sisters have entrusted you with this service so that, in their midst, you may reflect the way of Jesus, who tells us: “I came not to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28; John 13:1–17). Yet it is also a service rich in grace: a place where God’s faithful love meets your generosity, and where fraternal (sororal) charity becomes a living and luminous witness to the Gospel.
First, a Sister among Sisters
As prioress, you remain first and foremost a sister among sisters; you are not an “abbess,” that is, not a “mother” set above the community. This office is not a rank that elevates you over others, but a deeper call from within the community, a call “to shepherd”, to encourage, to challenge, and to console. You are entrusted with fostering the common fraternal (sororal) life in its fullest and most authentic sense: not simply as shared schedules or structures, but as a true communion rooted in Christ. Let your door be open, your heart attentive, and your words shaped by both wisdom and mercy.
You are a “faithful servant of the monastery” (LCM 195), and at the same time you are called to exercise leadership (LCM 68). This is the beautiful paradox of your ministry: you are called to be a servant-leader. You live this paradox by serving the mission of the Order and by leading your sisters so that, together, they may faithfully fulfill that same mission.
A Promoter of Vocations to the Dominican Contemplative Life
Often, when we speak of vocation promotion, we think primarily of attracting new vocations—that is, welcoming new candidates into the Order. Yet, upon reflection, we realize that vocation promotion must be understood more broadly. It embraces not only new vocations, but also the ongoing renewal and deepening of the vocation of all the professed (ACG Bologna [2016] n. 236). True vocation promotion includes both the welcoming of new sisters and the continual rekindling of the call of all Dominicans to be preachers of the Gospel.
You are therefore called to promote and nurture the Dominican vocation of the sisters entrusted to your care, safeguarding and nourishing the pillars of our life: prayer, study, community, and preaching. These are not abstract ideals, but the “pillars” of the Order of Preachers. Hold fast to the Liturgy of the Hours, to the silence that disposes the heart for God, to the sacred discipline of study and the contemplation of the Word, not for its own sake, but for the sake of preaching. Encourage your sisters to live this life deeply, joyfully, and faithfully, especially in moments when routine becomes burdensome or spiritual fervor feels dry.
“Remain in me, as I remain in you” (John 15:4). This mystery of abiding lies at the very heart of your vocation as Dominican nuns. The Church has entrusted you with a contemplative and life-giving ministry: the ministry of abiding. In the contemplative silence of the cloister, in faithful celebration of the Divine Office, and in contemplation of the Word, you live each day the truth of Christ’s promise: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
The Church is rich in charisms and ministries, yet its true fruitfulness flows from communion with Christ. Here we see the heart of the charism of St. Dominic, who desired that his sons and daughters always speak de Deo vel cum Deo, about God or with God. Like branches united to the Vine, you are called to contemplate the Truth who is Christ, so that your very life becomes a contemplative preaching of the Emmanuel, God-with-us. And thus, even within the cloister, your vocation is profoundly missionary: your prayer bears fruit in the preaching of the friars, in the teaching of the apostolic sisters, in the ministry of priestly fraternities, in the witness of the laity, and in the renewal of the world.
Witness, Listening, and Hope
In a time when the world is searching for truth and thirsting for meaning, your monastery is called to shine as a lamp set on a hill. As prioress, you play a vital role in shaping this witness. Preach by the way you listen. Teach by the way you live. Correct by the way you love. Let the community entrusted to your care be known not only for the clarity of its faith, but also for the warmth of its charity.
In this spirit, I commend to you a method of attentive listening that has proven fruitful in other ecclesial gatherings. It is my hope that you find it helpful in fostering deeper communion among the sisters through more intentional communication. This method is rooted in the original meaning of obedience—ob-audire, “to listen attentively.”
a. The prioress or moderator first explains the simple procedure and clearly presents the topic for sharing (for example, a project or an issue affecting the community).
b. Each sister is then given time to share her thoughts and reflections on the topic. During this first phase, the others listen in silence. There is no dialogue or interaction, not even questions. This is a sacred time of listening, in which each sister is given an equal amount of time to speak (for example, no more than three minutes).
c. When everyone has spoken, the community observes a brief period of silence.
d. After this silence, the moderator asks the question: “What have you learned from what you have heard?” Step (b) is then repeated. The purpose of this second round is not to reach agreement or consensus, but to deepen mutual understanding and reverence for one another’s thoughts and experience. At this stage, the sisters are invited to share not their own opinions, but the fruit that has emerged from listening attentively to one another.
Communication builds communion. True communication begins with attentive listening, a listening that makes space for the other, honors their experience, and receives their words as a gift. Words spoken with reverence, and silence held with love create bonds of trust, heal misunderstandings, and open hearts to reconciliation. In this way, communication becomes a path to communion, a participation in God’s own way of relating, where the Word is spoken in love and received in faith, and where many are made one in Christ.
In your communion with Christ and with one another, you preach hope. “Christ among us, Christ within us, He is our hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Hope is grounded in the certainty that God never abandons us, even in suffering and in death. It is the assurance that God abides with us in the mysteries of joy, sorrow, glory, and light that shape our lives. O Spem miram is our song of hope! God is the wonderful Hope preached and promised by Dominic, our constant Companion in the holy work of preaching God’s Word.
In the Spirit of Dominic
Let St. Dominic be close to you in this task. Re-read his life. Pray with his tears. Imitate his zeal for souls and his unwavering trust in God. Like him, lead not by power but by prayer and persuasion, with joy and patience. We know that Dominic’s preaching not only led others to conversion in the true faith; his own experiences of encounter and dialogue also transformed him in profound ways. We recall how Dominic spent an entire night in dialogue with an “innkeeper”, an encounter that resulted in the innkeeper’s conversion. Yet this same event must also have deeply shaped Dominic himself, influencing his decision to leave behind a promising ecclesiastical career as a canon of the cathedral of Osma and to choose instead to be known simply as “Brother Dominic” (Libellus, 21). In this sense, it marked a kind of conversion in Dominic’s own life. Preaching, therefore, transforms both the preacher and the hearer of the Word of God.
Sister, have courage. The work is often hidden, the burdens not always understood, but our loving and merciful Lord sees it all. And through your “yes,” He continues to build His Church.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom Dominic loved so deeply, and St. Joseph, protector of the Church, intercede for you. And may the Holy Spirit give you the light and strength to lead your sisters in truth and love.
Your brother in Christ and Dominic,
Br. Gerard Francisco P. Timoner III, OP
Magister Ordinis
PS: Please share this letter with the sisters of your community so that they may understand, support, and help you be a prioress to them.
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