Notes, Homilies, and News

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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 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,...

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...

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...

"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...

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...

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...