The Monastery of Christ in the Desert

Our Benedictine monastic community near Abiquiu, New Mexico, warmly welcomes you to our Abbey on the banks of the Chama River.

Learn More About Our Monastery

The Monastery Church and Art Gallery,  will be open to daytime visitors, each Monday through Saturday, from 09:00 am to 5:30pm.

The Giftshop will be open to daytime visitors from 09:30 am to 12:30 pm and 2:00pm to 3:30pm Tuesday-Saturday.

On Sundays, the Conventual Mass is at 9:15 am and the Giftshop will be open from 10:30 am to 3:00 pm.

The Gifsthop is closed on Mondays and during certain monastic observances.

Be our Guest

We welcome both day visitors and overnight guests for self-directed retreats. We celebrate mass daily, and invite you to pray with us.

Support Us

This monastic community is possible only by the generous support of friends like you. While the Monastery is an officially recognized Roman Catholic organization, it does not receive any direct financial support from the Church.

Explore the Monastery

We warmly invite you to explore a photo gallery that shows where we live and how we go about our monastic life.

Monastery News & Homilies

We invite you to subscribe to our newsletters to receive these directly via email.

June 7th: Corpus Christi Greetings

We're having lovely weather these days, but it would be lovelier if accompanied by rain. So far, precious little has fallen in 2026. In fact, for the past several years that has been the case. As they say, "Everyone talks (or complains) about the weather, but no one...

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Daily Martyrology for June 7, 2026

In Eichstätt, in 786, St. Willibald. He was the son of St. Richard (February 7), nephew of St. Boniface (June 5), and brother to St. Winnibald (December 18) and St. Walburga (February 25). His father died at Lucca while he was on a pilgrimage to Rome, and Willbald went on to the Holy Land. When he returned, he spent ten years at Monte Cassino, which had recently been restored by Pope Gregory II (February 11). About 740 the pope sent Willibald to help St. Boniface in Germany. Willibald... read more

Prayer and Chant

Learn more about the Monastic Day or review our Daily Prayer Schedule.

Prayer Requests and Mass Intentions

We are glad to include your requests for prayer in our daily chanting of the psalms. Mass intentions (including the delivery of a Mass card) may be requested for small stipend.

Daily Prayer and Mass Schedule

All are welcome to join us at daily worship. Click here for our daily prayer schedule which begins at 4:00am and ends at 7:30pm.

Current Road Conditions

Saturday, June 6th, 7:00 pm

Forest Service Road 151 leading to the Monastery is in good condition and dry.

Please watch for open-range cattle standing on the road especially the many new-born calves who tend to run in front of vehicles.

Always drive carefully on the road, as there is traffic in both directions. Also, there are sometimes hikers and bikers on the road.

Be courteous by letting faster vehicles pass. Simply pull to the side and allow them to go ahead.

Pray for peace.

Click here for driving directions