Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Scripture Readings: Book of Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29; Letter to the Hebrews 1218-19, 22-24; Gospel According to Saint Luke 14:1, 7 – 14 All three Mass readings from the Bible this Sunday are gems of wisdom and joy for those who take them to heart and strive to put...Craft Production
Twenty-first Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C, August 25, 2019
Scripture Readings: Book of the Prophet Isaiah 66:18-21; Letter to the Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Gospel According to Saint Luke 13:22-30 This Sunday in Ordinary Time directs our attention to God’s intention for the salvation of the human race in Jesus Christ. Expressed...Mount Athos Pilgrimage: Part V
Dear Friends, Brother Xavier McGough and I spent most of our Mount Athos Pilgrimage of 1979 at the monastery of Simonos-Petra, a thriving community at that time, numbering about fifty monks, most of them young. I understand that today, forty years later, there are...Our Donkey and Sheep
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
As an infant of forty days, Jesus was presented in the Jerusalem Temple, where the elderly prophet Simeon said to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, that her child was “set for the fall and rising of many in Israel,’ and as a sign that would be spoken against,” (see Luke...Mount Athos Pilgrimage: Part IV
Dear Friends in Christ, Something that struck me while on Mount Athos in Greece from September 3 to October 11, 1979, was that the monks we met were there simply for monastic life and nothing else. That may seem like an obvious enough observation, but the focus on...Our New Navajo-Churro Sheep Out For a Stroll.
AUGUST GREETINGS AND PRAYERS FROM THE MONKS
Mount Athos Pilgrimage: Part III
Dear Friends in Christ, Just two days into our Mount Athos pilgrimage, on September 5, 1979, Brother Xavier and I visited the Skete of Saint Daniel (“Danieleon” in Greek), a skete being a small establishment of monks. The Saint Daniel group of five monks were all icon...Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Scripture Readings: Book of Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23; Letter to the Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11; Gospel According to Saint Luke 12:13-21 This Sunday’s Scripture readings provide us with another opportunity to reflect on the fact that “you can’t take it with you,” when one...Mount Athos Pilgrimage: Part Two
Dear Friends in Christ, The last “Abbot’s Notebook” entry found Brother Xavier McGough and myself in London, England, en route to Mount Athos in Greece. This was taking place at the end of July and the beginning of August,1977, when I was 26 years old. Besides staying...16th Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle C-2019
16th Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle C-2019 FIRST READING Genesis 18:1-10a The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot. Looking up, Abraham saw three men standing nearby. When he saw...Summer Greetings from the Monastery!
Happy Solemnity of our Holy Father Saint Benedict, July 11, 2019. May He Intercede For Us All.
On Schedule, Our Cholla Cactus are in Bloom for Solemnity of Saint Benedict on July 11th
Photos by Abbot...15th Sunday of Ordinary Time—Cycle C—2019
15th Sunday of Ordinary Time–Cycle C–2019 FIRST READING Deuteronomy 30:10-14 Moses said to the people: “If only you would heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law, when...50/50 Raffle Winners
On June 30th we had the drawing for “50/50 Raffle.” Total ticket sales amounted to $1,585.00. That amount was then divided in half, so the monastery got $792, and the three winners got, respectively, 75% of $792; 15% of $792; and 10% of $792. One hundred...Summer Newsletter
Renewal in Christ Jesus The Right Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe, presided over the Solemnity of the Annunciation of Mary coinciding with the Abbatial Blessing of Abbot Christian Leisy, OSB on March 25, 2019 at Christ in the Desert Monastery....Mount Athos: Part One
Dear Friends in Christ, This year marks the fortieth “anniversary” of the transformative pilgrimage I made with the late Brother Xavier McGough of our monastery, to the Holy Mountain of Mount Athos in Greece. I promised the monks we met and befriended there in 1979...Independence Day Prayers and Greetings from the Monks.
Lilies Now Blooming in Our Cloister Garden.14th Sunday of Ordinary Time–Cycle C–2019
14th Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle C-2019 FIRST READING Isaiah 66:10-14c Thus says the LORD: Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who love her; exult, exult with her, all you who were mourning over her! Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk...On the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul Greetings and Prayers from the Monks of Christ in the Desert
Thirteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C
Scripture Readings: First Book of Kings 19:16-21; Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians 5:1, 13-18; Gospel According to Saint Luke 9:51-62 Whether young or old, poor or rich, people normally wish to be treated with respect and fairness. Jesus encountered a lack of...
"Let everyone that comes be received as Christ."
— The Rule of St. Benedict
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