Abbot's Archives
If you enjoy hearing from us, we regularly send out news bulletins which you can receive by email.
May 21th: Meet Us In Chama!
This Friday afternoon, May 21st, a variety of our handmade products will be for sale at the Chama Valley Farmers Market, near the village of Chama, New Mexico. Our Brothers Andre and Isidore will be at the Market from 3:00 to 5:00 pm this Friday, with our soaps,...
April 20th: From Our Weaving Workshop
We still have 2 rugs left to present for purchase from the Monastery Workshop. Each rug is made with prayer and care by one of our monks. The wool, both warp and weft, is 100% Navajo-Churro and hand-dyed. The rugs for sale are one-of-a-kind and nearly identical in...
August 12th: The Less Traveled Road
Christian monasticism has been around for centuries, over one thousand five hundred years, in fact. It has waxed and waned with the passing of time, with high points and low, good times and bad. Fewer today are choosing the monastic path than fifty, seventy or eighty...
August 10th: Roll Call
Well, not exactly, but the chickens do come running whenever the Abbot opens his door to Abbotsfield, where the chickens roam all day. The feathered friends are always eager for a handout. As one of our guests recently quipped: chickens are always hungry! Our flock of...
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Scripture Readings: Prophet Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Letter to the Hebrews 12:1-4; Gospel According to Saint Luke 12:49-53 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...
August 9th: Hail
In a matter of minutes this past Sunday afternoon, August 7th, we were inundated with tremendous amounts of rain and hail. Today's photo, taken in our cloister garden the day after the storm, shows some of the results of the recent downpour. What does not appear in...
From the Rising to the Setting of the Sun
Sometimes monastic life is defined as an "infinity of little hours." More often than not, nothing great or spectacular occurs in our lives, but on we go, day by day, week by week, year by year. Isn't this the reality for all of us, monks or not? The concept of "an...
Nineteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C
Scripture Readings: Book of Wisdom 18:6-9; Letter to the Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19, Gospel According to Saint Luke 12:32-48 Some parts of Sacred Scripture, the Old and New Testaments, are more interesting, engaging and memorable than others. I have to confess that this...
August 3rd: Not New Mexico
Today's photo bears a striking resemblance to places in New Mexico, including White Sands National Park, but in fact the photo was taken in a place far, far away from the Land of Enchantment. One of our young brothers is visiting his family, for the first time in five...
July 31st: Abundant Rain
We are rejoicing in the return of rain after its long absence. That doesn't mean the drought in this part of the country has ended, but it does mean that relief has arrived in the form of moisture. May it continue! Our fields are green and the gardens of flowers and...
July 29th: Monastery Gardens
Typically, monastery gardens are important spaces that are semi or completely cultivated, adding beauty to the property where monks live and receive their guests. Some monastery gardens are hidden from public view, such as where the monks have their living quarters....
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 (or anything!) with...
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Scripture Readings: Genesis 18:20-32; Letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians 2:12-14; Gospel According to Saint Luke 11:1-13 This Sunday’s Gospel passage is a collection of the Lord’s sayings on prayer. Jesus gives the teaching in the context of his own prayer. We are...
July 24th: All Hands On Deck
Our second oldest monk, Father Bernard, who turns 91 on July 30th, delights in meeting up on a regular basis with our flock of chickens. They come running when Father Bernard appears, and stay around him for the duration of his visit. The re-introduction of livestock...
July 20th: Monsoon Season
For a glimpse of our typical rainy season afternoon downpours, please view today's video clip, taken a few days ago. While it might look a tropical storm that could last for hours, our rains ususally come fast and furiously, but typically only last fifteen, twenty or...
July 18th: Green Grass
Here are some appropriate quotes to accompany today's photo of the very green grass in our cloister garden. Recent rains have done wonders. Thirteenth century Dominican friar and Bishop, Saint Albert the Great said: "Nothing refreshes the sight so much as fine short...
July 17th: Saturday Sunset
If a picture still paints a thousand words, today's photo proves the point. "The heaven's proclaim the glory of God," Psalm 18 tells us, and the Chama Canyon where we live has to be one of the most gorgeous places on earth. Of course, we are biased, but also rarely,...
Sixteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C
Readings: Book of Genesis 18:1-10; Letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians 1:24-28; Gospel According to Saint Luke 10:38-42 Both the first reading and the Gospel for Mass this Sunday are centered on what is sometimes called “the ministry of hospitality,” a spiritual...
July 11th: Solemnity of Saint Benedict
Today is the great feastday of Saint Benedict, considered to be the Founder of Western Monasticism. The famous Rule for Monks that Saint Benedict wrote around 540 AD is still being followed by many thousands of monks, nuns and oblates around the world. Some of the...
July 7th: Father Luis Regalado, OSB (1943 – 2022)
Today was the Requiem Mass and burial in our cemetery of our dear confrere, Father Luis Regalado, who died on June 28th at the age of 79. He was born on June 20th, 1943, and died on June 28th, 2022. Father Luis was a faithful and gentle monk and priest, and will be...
July 6th: Birds of a Feather
Several birds' nests on our property, not so much in trees as in high beams of our portals, are yielding fledglings. They will soon fly away, of course, but are enjoyable to watch in the meantime. A group of four is featured in today's photo. As children we were...
Fifteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C
Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37 The wonderful parable of the Good Samaritan is unforgettable and perhaps the most famous of the parables of Jesus, on a par perhaps with the parable of the Prodigal Son, and the parable about...