Christ in the Desert

My friend Judy and I drove 13 miles on this dirt road along the Chama River to reach the Benedictine Monastery of Christ in the Desert. This day was the highlight of my trip to New Mexico. When I can I will return to the monastery and stay for several days.

Rio Chama

Surrounded by miles of Federal Wilderness, the solitude and quiet of the monastic setting is assured. Thomas Merton visited the church and said, "The tower is like a watchman looking for something or someone of whom it does not speak."

 

Entrance to dining room.  Guests eat with the monks in silence.

Madonna garden

Path leading to the hops field. Abbey Beverage Company was launched in 2005.

Dining room and gift store

The monastery shares with guests an opportunity for silence, reflection, and quiet discussion of important issues. It offers an experience of "peace which the world cannot give."

                                Guest house

 

On Pentecost 1968, Thomas Merton wrote that "The Monastery of Christ in the Desert is only in its beginning: it is a small seed, seeking to fix its roots firmly in the rock and sand of the canyon, like the hardy pinon pines around it. It does not have the monastic ambitions of the big institutions which have become famous. It seeks only to keep alive the simplicity of Benedictine monasticism: a communal life of prayer, study, work and praise in the silence of the desert where the word of God has always been best heard and most faithfully understood."