Abbot's Notebook

The Abbot's Notebook for April 18, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Christ is risen!  Alleluia!  One of the challenges of serving a community is to know that when I am about to leave for a trip, there will be no time for myself because so...

The Abbot's Notebook for April 11, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Christ is risen!  Alleluia!  Already the Easter Season moves on and it will go by quickly.  All the dogs are home and none are in the hospital.  All the brothers are home and...

The Abbot's Notebook for April 4, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Christ is risen!  Alleluia!  Probably for me one of the greatest struggles in the spiritual life was to come to believe that Jesus Christ truly is man and truly is God.  Many...

The Abbot's Notebook for March 28, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Thumper the Dog ended up in the hospital again and perhaps he has primary heart disease.  The other possibility is that he suffered some trauma when he was out and running....

The Abbot's Notebook for March 21, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Last week Brother Benedict Hall had a bad day and even went to the hospital.  It seemed in the end, however, that what was happening to him was an allergic reaction to three...

The Abbot's Notebook for March 14, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  We are having a good week here in the Monastery.  Brother Vincent Mary returned from Vietnam.  Abbot Anselm of Pluscarden, the Abbot Visitor of the English Province, arrived...

The Abbot's Notebook for March 7, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  The grandmother of our Brother Jude seems to be dying and so he has gone to be with his family in New Jersey.  Father Mayeul and Brother Bonaventure are still in Vietnam and...

The Abbot's Notebook for February 28, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Already we are in the Second Week of Lent!  Here at Christ in the Desert we have begun to focus on the upcoming Canonical Visitation and then after that, we will focus...

The Abbot's Notebook for February 21, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Already we are in the middle of the First Week of Lent and moving towards Holy Week and Easter.  Time always keeps moving!  In the past I seemed able to keep up with the...

The Abbot's Notebook for February 14, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Not along ago I mentioned how grateful I was that our community had not had flu or colds much this year.  That has ended and for most of the past week we have had 7 to 10...

The Abbot's Notebook for February 7, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  This last week was spent mostly in Louisiana at Saint Joseph Abbey, attending the annual Abbots’ and Priors’ Workshop.  The theme this year was how to create a culture of...

The Abbot's Notebook for January 31, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! The first month of the New Year is already gone. The days are already getting longer and the nights shorter here in our part of the world. In other parts of the world, the...

The Abbot's Notebook for January 24, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Finally we had our first real snow of this winter last Sunday.  It was only three or four inches, but it was snow.  We have had some sprinkles late last year and that was...

The Abbot's Notebook for January 17, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  It has been one of those wonderful and quiet weeks in the monastery.  Father David Anderson is here, giving us classes on Scripture and Brother Ruzai returned to India for...

The Abbot's Notebook for January 10, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  The great celebrations of Christmas, Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord have come to an end and now we are back in Ordinary Time.  This time after the great solemnities...

The Abbot's Notebook for January 3, 2018 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  May this New Year bring you closer to the Lord Jesus and thus give you intense awareness of His love!  May it also bring joy and other blessings. Here in the community we...

The Abbot's Notebook for December 27, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!   Christmas!  What a joyful time of year for most of us.  Here at Christ in the Desert our schedules are turned upside down from the day before Christmas (Christian Eve)...

The Abbot's Notebook for December 20, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  This was not as quiet a week as last week.  At least there were no deaths this week!  On Saturday, December 16th, we hosted about 100 Vietnamese from California in the...

The Abbot's Notebook for December 13, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! A quiet Advent week in the monastery. What a peaceful time Advent can be. I remember that when I first came to New Mexico in 1974, I was deeply impressed by the image of a...

The Abbot's Notebook for December 6, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! Well, it has been a quiet week. The funeral of Fr. Fred Brand is later today, after you receive this Notebook. The brother who was in hospital has returned home and is...