Dear Visitors and Guests,

Blessings to you!  God’s peace and blessings.  WELCOME TO ALL!

As the Abbot of this Monastery, I extend a most warm, encouraging and welcoming invitation for all persons to visit us.  As a community of Benedictine monks we follow St. Benedict’s rule which asks us to treat each guest and visitor as Christ would be treated.  It is, therefore, our special privilege to have all people of whatever faith or belief, ethnic, or cultural background to come to our beautiful canyon and find a place of silence, solitude, and peace as the guests of the Monastery of Christ in the Desert.

It is in this setting and by sharing time with this community that I believe that you can experience that wisdom of the desert which has called so many seekers to come to a place of timeless beauty and profound realness.  Here you may well begin to see your life in new perspectives.  Here you may well taste and see that the Lord is good.  Here you will, I believe, be in a sacred space where those things that seem impossible for yourself are indeed possible for God.

Many who come here are of a different faith, or have none at all, yet all are moved by the experience.  They find a quiet, disciplined prayer-filled life guided by a few but clear rules for guests.  Yet it is in such a setting that there may be the rediscovery of a spiritual path once lost, or the finding of a greater meaning for life.

We make it possible for our guests and visitors to participate in scheduled prayers in the Abbey Church and to have their own time for prayer or reflection in silence.  On Sundays, we have a time for guests to meet with the monks following Mass while we all share some refreshments.

We are always delighted to offer our hospitality to the people who have made the journey to our Monastery. We offer a respite from the world of distractions, noise, and even superficial existence.  Here there is a sense of the community of all human beings, a place where true love of neighbor, of everyone really, seems possible by a wonderful gift or grace that is offered to all of us.  Welcome and blessings.

Your brother in the Lord,

Abbot Christian, OSB