Abbot's Notebook

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...

The Abbot's Notebook for October 4, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Normally we have our rainy season in July and August.  This year we have had large amounts of rain in September, perhaps a side effect of the hurricanes and the Gulf of...

The Abbot's Notebook for September 27, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  This time of year, after the hot summer and before the cold winter, autumn or fall as we call it, is always a gift of beauty here.  The mornings are cold and crisp and...

The Abbot's Notebook for September 20, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  We seem to have a mother bear and two cubs on our property right now.  These are black bears and generally don’t harm anyone.  We have been told that there are few acorns...

The Abbot's Notebook for September 13, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Here I am back at Christ in the Desert, thanks be to God.  This trip to Texas was important for the community at the Monastery of Thien Tam and for me.  In Thien Tam, the...

The Abbot's Notebook for September 6, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  I have ventured forth on a small trip away from the monastery, with my doctor’s permission.  Today I am at the Monastery of Thien Tam, south of Dallas.  This community was...

The Abbot's Notebook for August 30, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  We have had some rain—but when I think of those who live in the southern parts of Texas, it seems like we have perfect weather here.  When I moved to this monastery some 43...

The Abbot's Notebook for August 23, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  As I begin to write this Notebook, there is thunder, lightning and a bit of rain in the air.  Always in the desert we hope for rain.  We never have enough, even when a...

The Abbot's Notebook for August 16, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  It continues to be fairly warm here at Christ in the Desert.  August is always the month in which we have a lot of flies.  Sometime we purchase fly paper to put in the...

The Abbot's Notebook for August 9, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  The big news here this past week was the death of our Father Odon Nguyen Van Tho, OSB, on August 2, 2017.  In fairly recent Notebooks, I had mentioned that he was close to...

The Abbot's Notebook for August 2, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  By now you know that I will be writing to you from my own office in my own monastery regularly.  Although I may be able to make some smaller, shorter trips occasionally, I...

The Abbot's Notebook for July 26, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  It continues to be very hot here at the Monastery and we have changed our afternoon schedule slightly to accommodate the needs of the brothers.  Many of the brothers are not...

The Abbot's Notebook for July 19, 2017 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Blessings to you!  Finally some rain has come to our area.  Not much yet, but the temperatures have cooled down a bit.  Most of my life, I have been able to live in hot or cold temperatures...