Visit of the Master of the Order
Our celebration of Memorial Day this year was particularly special as we were honored to have a visit from the Master General of the Dominican Order, Fr. Gerard Timoner III, O.P., who came to us from Rome. Fr. Gerard is the eighty-eighth Master of the worldwide Order of Preachers, following in a long line beginning with St. Dominic himself.
Fr. Gerard’s visit began with the celebration of morning Mass in our chapel, during which he gave a beautiful homily encouraging us in our contemplative vocation. Afterwards our prioress, Sr. Joseph Maria, showed him the monastery building and grounds within the enclosure. (According to our Constitutions, “entrance into the enclosure is always permitted to the Master of the Order.”)
On his tour, Fr. Gerard stopped to pray in the cemetery and bless the graves of our deceased sisters, including the grave of Sr. Maria Agnes Karasig, who passed away last year. When Sr. Maria Agnes served a term as prioress of the monastery in Cainta in the Philippines many years ago, Fr. Gerard was one of the friars who would regularly offer Mass for the community. She was ecstatic when she heard of his election as Master of the Order in 2019, and must have been smiling down from heaven at his visit to us.
Following his tour, the whole community assembled in the community room to greet the Master General. He shared with us news about the Order around the world, his prayer intentions for the Order, and some amusing anecdotes of incidents in Rome. Afterwards he joined us for our Memorial Day cookout.
Fr. Gerard is a warm and personable friar who immediately felt like a brother to us. After his visit, sisters remarked that meeting Father Master strengthened their sense of connection to the Order as a whole. Father’s visit was a delight, and it allowed us to experience for ourselves the unique relationship we have, as Dominican nuns, to the Master General of the Order: he is our highest superior, mentioned explicitly in our formula of profession, immediately after the name of Saint Dominic and before the name of the local prioress.
We are grateful for Father Master’s visit and continue to keep him and his intentions in our prayers.
