Abbot's Notebook

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...

The Abbot's Notebook for November 29, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  This has been a significant week because someone died on our road.  In all of my years here at Christ in the Desert, there has never been anyone die on the road in an...

The Abbot's Notebook for November 22, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  We are coming to the end of the year already.  This year has passed all too quickly.  Because we have an end of the Church Year on December 2nd and then the end of the...

The Abbot's Notebook for November 15, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Will the weather change?  Sometimes that is a preoccupation here because the weather affects us a lot.  As it gets colder, those who are used to warmer climates feel the...

The Abbot's Notebook for November 8, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! The weather here continues to be wonderful with clear and cold mornings and warm afternoons. It is perfect weather for me to talk the walks that the doctor has encouraged....

The Abbot's Notebook for November 1, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  This week the community and I had two very special guests—one more for the community (but also for me) and the other especially for me.  The first was Father James Conner,...

The Abbot's Notebook for October 25, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! This has been a truly beautiful week at Christ in the Desert. Of course I admit that I love this time of year when the mornings are really cold and the afternoons so...

The Abbot's Notebook for October 18, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  There are days when, even if I am home, I find it difficult to write anything.  This happened before my present health challenges, although these present challenges have...

The Abbot's Notebook for October 11, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you! As I continue to recover, no one really believes that I am still infirm! And so more and more things are asked me and I struggle to maintain enough time for naps and for...