Monastery News

Despite predictions and promises from forecasters, we’ve yet to see snow or rain in the Chama Canyon, but we keep hoping and praying for a reversal of fortune. We have been having gusty winds of late, which acts to dry up the land even more. It is by no means a “dustbowl” situation in these parts, but we’d welcome the arrival of moisture in any form at this time.

On another note, from our monastery kitchen, we’ve returned to baking our “daily bread” once again. One brother now almost daily prepares the loaves and another does the baking in our new convection ovens. The results have been well received by all, monks and guests on retreat alike.

While we long for precipitation, the return of warmer weather has been most welcome. Some pipes that had frozen on our property during the colder than usual January are now thawed or repaired, which is a relief.

Brothers are staying healthy, thanks be to God, with no flu or even colds this winter, for which we are grateful. We continue our daily round of prayer in church and in private, Mass each morning, as well as reading, work and rest. We keep all our families, friends and benefactors in our prayers. We appreciate your prayers as well.

Abbot Christian and the monks

To those on retreat here and day visitors, we monks might seem like “carefree creatures,” who simply file into and out of church and refectory throughout the day, and not doing much else in between.

Behind the scenes, though, we all have jobs, some with more than one job in fact, requiring some hours of attention each day, including bookkeeping, cleaning, cooking, laundry, thank you letters to benefactors and tending to Mass requests, maintenance, handicrafts, running the Giftshop, caring for our flocks of sheep, chickens and our guard donkey, and the list goes on.

The unofficial Benedictine motto is “ora et labora,” pray and work. Both are important part of a balanced day “in the midst of desert beauty,” where we “live and move and have our being,” a phrase from the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 17, verse 28).

While no one is exempt from prayer or work, we carefully take into consideration age, abilities and health, striving for moderation, a important Benedictine trait, and not military precision that might expel those who “can’t keep up” with everyone else.

The warmer weather we are now experiencing is welcome, and while it’s not yet Spring, it can’t be that far off. If only we could be graced with rain or snow as well, to help the dry land of the great Southwest.

We keep you in our prayers and count on yours. Blessed week now in progress.

Abbot Christian and the monks

Each year on February 10th, Benedictines around the world recount the memory of Saint Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict. They both lived from about 480 to 547 AD, natives of Nursia (present day Norcia), in the Umbrian region of Italy, north of Rome. Some posit that Benedict and Scholastica were twins, but there is no evidence to prove that they were.

What we know of Saint Scholastica and her brother Benedict we learn from the “Book of Dialogues” of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, who lived from about 540 to 604 AD., who was also a monk, and whose name is closely associated with what we call (and still sing!), namely, Gregorian chant.

In Pope Gregory’s “Life and Miracles of Saint Benedict,” we learn that the saintly siblings, Benedict and Scholastica, were both consecrated to God in the monastic state, and met each year not far from their respective monasteries at Montecassino, for a time of prayer and musing on the mysteries of life and death.

At what was to be their final colloquium, when Benedict deemed they should conclude their time together that evening, Scholastica “protested” by bowing her head and praying to the Lord. In response to her prayer, a torrential rainfall ensued, making it impossible for Benedict, Scholastica and their monastic companions to return to their respective monasteries that night.

Scholastica must have had a premonition that her death was near, for she died just three days after the meeting, and was buried at Benedict’s monastery of Montecassino, in a tomb intended by Benedict for himself. Pilgrims can still visit the burial places of the two saints at the Abbey of  Montecassino, beneath the main church.

Today’s photo is of a fresco from the later Middle Ages at the “Holy Cave” of Saint Benedict at Subiaco, where he lived his first years as a monk. The fresco shows Scholastica praying, Benedict’s concern, and the monk to his right looking skyward at the impending storm.

The charming, whimsical and memorable sibling “holy” rivalry has captured the imagination of many over the centuries, and is the centerpiece of a consideration of Saint Scholastica’s power of prayer in the face of her brother’s protestation.

We especially greet and pray for all Benedictine nuns and sisters, as well a women oblates of Saint Benedict, on the Feastday of Saint Scholastica.

Abbot Christian and the monks

While over the past weeks we have been experiencing some near record-breaking cold weather, this week we are seeing temperatures climbing into the 60s, near record-breaking as well for this time of year.

We often experience “false Springs,” as they are sometimes called, so we’re certainly not convinced that Winter is over quite yet, but presumably the coldest time is past.

Like many parts of the nation, we are still suffering from a dearth of moisture, for which we eagerly await.

Aside from that, we are well, enjoying Ordinary Time once again, with the next liturgical season of Great Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday on March 5th.

We assure you of our prayers and we are grateful for yours.

Abbot Christian and the monks

We are praying for snow or rain, and there is a chance of it appearing soon, so say the forecasters. For this reason, in anticipation, we post a photo of “silence made visible,” as the Swiss philosopher Max Picard (1888-1965) described snow in his book, “World of Silence.”

Today’s photo is of our cloister garden, the area where the monks have their rooms, (called “cells”!).  The photo is of some time ago, when it actually snowed! Hope springs eternal, as they say, and we trust the Lord will send some moisture sooner or later. Ran or snow would be most welcome.

The cold snap we and much of the nation has been experiencing lately has now subsided, for which we are grateful, and while January is never “warm” here, at least it is not so cold. Day time temperatures have been reaching to nearly 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and at dawn hovering around freezing.

Be assured of our prayers and please keep us in yours. Thank you for your support and care.

Abbot Christian and the monks

We are blessed with some excellent cooks and bakers among the brothers. One such example is found in today’s photo, apple pies for this Sunday, January 19th.

The pies will be enjoyed at the Sunday evening meal, when the monks gather for a less formal supper, which includes talking and enjoying one another’s company. In monastic parlance, it’s called “recreation.”

Our other gatherings for meals throughout the week are in silence. The weekday midday meal includes listening to a portion of Sacred Scripture (the Bible), as well as the Rule of Saint Benedict and the lives of the saints. A book or article of interest is also part of what is called “table reading” during meals. Breakfast and supper are always simply taken in silence.

Our recently installed convection ovens are functioning very well and much appreciated by the cooks. They can count on more accurate temperatures and cooking times, features that make the task of cooking a little easier.

Be assured of our daily prayers for the needs and intentions of our families, friends, benefactors and oblates. Please pray for us. Thank you.

Abbot Christian and the monks

Our Founder and first Prior, Father Aelred Wall, OSB, who lived from 1917 to 1984, was a strong proponent of combining simplicity and beauty. He used to say, “simplicity does not have to be ugly.”

The principle of “keeping things simple,” yet also beautiful, is evident in many of the architectural features at Christ in the Desert, especially the monastery church, designed by architect and woodworker George Nakashima (1905-1990), known for the “noble simplicity” of his work, and who was a friend of Father Aelred Wall.

Today’s photo shows an inside corridor on the way to our church from the cloister, where our living quarters are. Though built two decades after Father Aelred’s death, the hallway intends to model the style promoted by our Founder, and as an expression of the Benedictine monastic spirit in the 21st century. There is also a distinctive “New Mexico style” that our buildings inside and out reflect.

Winter remains mild, with no measurable precipitation, so we continue to pray for rain or snow. With the abundance of sunshine, our solar-powered system for all our electrical needs is running smoothly and well. Nonetheless, we’d appreciate some less-than-sunny days, carrying clouds, rain and snow.

Be assured of our prayers and please keep us in yours. Thank you.

Abbot Christian and the monks

Often we’re asked about the many one-of-a-kind vintage items in our Giftshop. We are blessed with a source that is on the lookout for such items, and they tend to sell quickly in our shop.

Sometimes we’re asked if we have more of a particular statue or crucifix, for example, but usually our reply that the item is indeed “one-of-a-kind,” from decades back, and that we only have one.

Today’s photo is of a charming 12 inch tall ceramic “Our Lady of the Roses,” made in Italy nearly a century ago, and recently placed for sale in our Giftshop. Both Our Lady and the Christ Child hold a bouquet of roses.

All this is to say: visit our Giftshop when you can, to find a wide variety of vintage statues and other religious goods, including rosaries, cards, handicrafts by our monks, as well as an assortment of excellent spiritual books, both classics and from more recent times.

The winter remains dry, which means the thirteen mile long “Forest Service Road 151” leading to the Monastery (off of Highway 84, the road to Chama, New Mexico), remains dry and passable, even in this month often associated with rain or snow. We try to post a daily road-condition report on our website.

As we return to “Ordinary Time” in the Church Calendar, beginning on Monday, January 13^th, we continue to pray for the needs and intentions of all our families, friends, benefactors and oblates. Please pray for us. Thank you.

Abbot Christian and the monks

For several years our monastery kitchen has featured a non-functioning convection oven. It was broken and beyond repair and needed to be replaced, and so it has been, thanks to the generosity of a benefactor.

Often associated almost exclusively with baking bread, cookies, cakes and the like, for us the new convection oven will be used for all-purpose baking and cooking. It is a much more convenient and efficient way to prepare our daily meals. It runs on propane.

The new oven was delivered to our door by freight truck midday on Friday, January 3^rd. It is very heavy, over a thousand pounds, but brothers with tractor skills and muscle had the “Southbend” brand oven in place in our kitchen and functioning by Saturday afternoon, January 4^th.

We are grateful beyond words for this useful new addition. Brother Bede, one of our regular cooks, is pictured today at the new oven.

To all, a blessed week and winter journey in progress. Our winter has been very mild thus far and we await some snow or rain.

Be assured of our prayers.

Abbot Christian and the monks

This Christmas we were given a most unusual gift: a 4,400 piece Lego “build your own Notre Dame cathedral.” One of our monks valiantly took up the challenge, and his handiwork is displayed in today’s photo. He calculates that it took about twelve hours to complete the project.

It is fitting that as Notre Dame’s restoration and re-dedication occurred late in 2024, we now have our own replica of the beautiful cathedral early in 2025.

We keep you in our daily prayers, for peace and good health in this Year of the Lord 2025. Thank you for your support and good zeal. It inspires and encourages us!

Abbot Christian and the monks

Today the Church rejoices in the continuation of the Christmas season and in veneration of All-Holy Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Today’s holy image is a contemporary Coptic Orthodox icon, used on the cover of the November/December news magazine of Saint Antony Coptic Orthodox Monastery, Yermo, California.

An ancient hymn, “Behold A Mystical Rose,” captures well the joyful spirit of this day, as we begin a new year:

“Behold the cause of our joy, who bore the infinite Child! All hail, O Gate of Heaven, through you Salvation came, all praised and blest be your name!”

Happy New Year 2025. Let us pray for peace on earth.

Abbot Christian and the monks

On this last day of the civil year 2024, many people sing the Scottish-origin song “Auld Lang Syne.” And what does that mean? Literally, “Old Long Since,” or less literally “for old time’s sake,” with the first words, “Should old acquaintance be forgotten and never brought to mind?,” a rhetorical question that calls to consider the past and not forget it. What’s past is prologue, as William Shakespeare wrote, and our experiences of the past year, both good and bad, are now woven into the fabric of our being.

Today’s photo could be called “Decembers Long Past,” since we have not seen rain or snow for some time, but we keep hoping and praying that is will eventually come to pass. The great but dry Southwest is much in need of moisture in any form, and hope springs eternal.

We are still celebrating the Christmas mystery, even tomorrow, January 1st, which is dedicated to Mary the Mother of God. In fact the Christmas season extends to the Epiphany of the Lord on January 5th, and only ends with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord on January 12th. On January 13th we return to “Ordinary Time” once again, until Ash Wednesday on March 5th.

Until then, a blessed and Happy New Year 2025 to all!

Abbot Christian and the monks

We continue our celebration of the Christmas Octave and also recall that we are drawing very close to the end of the civil year 2024. In the Church’s liturgical calendar, January 1st, the beginning of the New Year, is kept as the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God. We will place the new year 2025 under her protection and intercession.

For us monks, January 1st will also be a time to recount the many blessings we have received over the past year, including two monks who made solemn profession. We are also preparing for a number of men considering our way of life who will come here soon for their first visits to observe our monastic life. Please pray that they and we may discern well for their possible call to Benedictine monastic life.

Today’s photo is of a relatively small stained glass window in the church of the “Holy Cave ” (Sacro Speco) of Saint Benedict at Subiaco, Italy, one of Europe’s most beautiful shrines.

A blessed and joyous Christmastide! Be assured of prayers and please pray for us. Thank you.

Abbot Christian and the monks

Each morning at the Office of Vigils during the Christmas Octave, we chant “Christ is born for us, come let us adore.” The refrain is repeated several times as we pray Psalm 94(95), which calls us to “Come, ring out your joy to the Lord, hail the Rock who saves us.”

The popular Christmas carol “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” is filled with the same sentiments. As believers, we are all called to come into the Lord’s presence every day, and to adore our saving God.

As we on planet earth have already passed the Winter solstice, the days are getting noticeably longer once again. No one is objecting to that! Here in the Chama Canyon daytime temperatures are reaching close to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which very pleasant, but we also pray for snow or rain.

Today’s photo is of two Christmas pop up cards, of the holy city Jerusalem and of a Christmas tree, which are always displayed here in this season.

As we continue the Christmas Octave, on this Sunday dedicated to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we offer our greetings and prayers to all our families and friends.

Abbot Christian and the monks

The winter thus far (admittedly only a few days old), has been very mild, with no snow to speak of or even rain. We can use both, of course, and pray they might arrive sooner than later.

Among our “neighbors” is a family of deer. Today’s photo is of two of them, though usually they travel with three others. They are very good at leaping over high fences and regularly enjoy “raiding” the fields normally reserved to our chickens, sheep and donkey. Our domestic animals don’t quite seem to know what to make of the deer, but all get along fine in our “peaceable kingdom,” that is our home and theirs.

The month of January will be a quieter time for us monks, with the Guesthouse closed, but we will carry on the round of daily prayers and Mass in church, and day visitors and pilgrims are still welcome.

Be assured of our prayers and please keep us in yours. Thank you.

Abbot Christian and the monks

Continuing the Christmas celebrations without ceasing, today the Church in the Liturgy also commemorates the Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, often called “the Divine,” for his sublime words in his Gospel narrative and Letters regarding the “Word of Life,” Jesus Christ. Christ is born, glorify Him!

Here at the Monastery we take up our daily tasks once again, after two days of no official “work period,” but in fact meals have had to be prepared, laundry done, correspondence tended to and bills been paid, all of what we sometimes call “necessary work.” Now we all do our daily work of various and sundry jobs, including maintenance, crafts, Guesthouse cleaning, thanking donors, tending the Giftshop, and the like.

A prayer and hope that you may be having peaceful days in this Christmas season, and that all travelers at this time by land, sea or air may be kept safe and healthy.

Abbot Christian and the monks

The Christmas Octave consists of eight days of celebrations, which we observe beginning on Christmas Day. In a sense, the Church is telling us that one day is just not sufficient to express our joy and wonder at the mystery of our dear Savior’s birth. We likewise observe an Octave for the celebration of Easter, the Resurrection of the Lord, which actually extends for forty days.

Even at the end of the Christmas Octave, we continue to celebrate on a smaller scale, we might call it, right of the the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2nd.

With all this in mind, don’t take down the Christmas decorations, continue to sing carols and don’t discard the Christmas tree just yet!

Today’s photo is of our Nativity scene in our monastery church.

A blessed and joyous continuation of Christmas to all! You are in our prayers and we appreciate yours.

Abbot Christian and the monks.

“The hands that made the sun and stars were too small to reach the huge heads of cattle.” G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

May you and your loved ones have a blessed and Merry Christmas.

Be assured of the prayers of the monks of Christ in the Desert throughout the coming Christmastide. We count on your prayers as well.

Abbot Christian and the monks

Each year the final days of Advent, leading up to December 24th, are graced with the singing of the traditional “O Antiphons” at Vespers, just before the chanting of the “Magnificat,” the Canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary, found in the Gospel according to Saint Luke, chapter 1, verses 46 to 55. The origin of the O Antiphons is from sometime well before the first millennium of the Church’s history.

Often called the “Great Antiphons,” they are verses derived from Scripture that point to the coming of the Savior of All nations, Christ the Lord. Each of the O Antiphons begins with the word “O,” as a form of jubilant expression, then continues with one of the names of God, fittingly attributed to Jesus.

These names are: Divine Wisdom, Adonai (Sovereign Lord), Root of Jesse, Key of David, Rising Sun, King of All Nations, and finally Emmanuel (God-with-us). The popular Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” paraphrase the texts of the O Antiphons.

Today’s photo is an image of “Our Lady of the O Antiphons,” with the large “O” surrounding the Virgin. We display the icon in front of the lecturn (reader’s stand) in our monastery church from December 17th to the 23rd, where the abbot intones the O Antiphon of the day. The “Our Lady of the O Antiphons” is a popular devotion in many places in Latin America, and our image is a copy of a Peruvian one.

A blessed and calm continuation for the coming Christmas celebrations. Haste and frantic preparation should be avoided by us all!

Abbot Christian and the monks

Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24th:

5:30 pm – First Vespers of Christmas

7:00 pm – Office of Vigils of Christmas

12 Midnight – Christmas Midnight Mass

Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25th:

11:00 am – Christmas Mass During the Day

Madonna of Montserrat Abbey, Spain

photo by Abbot Christian