Well, almost! We have not yet had a hard freeze in the Chama Canyon this autumn, which is unusual, with snow sometimes falling by this time of year.

We are currently enjoying very pleasant weather, with daytime temperatures in the 70s and at night in the high 30s or low 40s.

The petunias in front of our monastery church continue to bloom in abundance, and are a welcome sight to all who come to the Divine Office or Mass with us, or to make a visit for prayer in our church. Enjoy the photo below.

The good weather may be ending shortly, we understand, with a storm system moving into our area in the coming days. Until now, though, we have been getting good amounts of outdoor work done, including mowing our (limited) lawns, cutting back flowers that have ceased blooming, raking leaves and tending to various maintenance projects on some buildings.

We monks will have our annual community retreat next week. Yes, we (theoretically) live a recollected life, but most monasteries also take some days each year to listen to some conferences by a retreat director and to have more unstructured time for solitary prayer, lectio divina (sacred reading), crafts, and even extra rest!

This year our community retreat conferences (two each day) will be given by Abbot Marion Nguyen, OSB, of Saint Martin’s Abbey, Lacy, Washington. During the coming week of retreat our Guesthouse will be closed.

Be assured of our prayers and please keep us in yours. Thank you and God bless you.

Abbot Christian and the monks