St Thérèse: The Little Flower

Tomorrow (Friday 1st October) is the Feast day of St Thérèse of Lisieux - The Little Flower of Jesus.
St Thérèse was born in Alençon in France on 2nd January 1873 and entered the Carmelite Monastery at age 15. St Thérèse died from consumption on 30th September 1897 at the fragile age of 24.
She was canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1925, and declared Patroness of the Mission in 1927. John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1997.

St Thérèse is renowned for her 'Little Way'.

St. Joseph's parishioners at the Cofton Park Mass

Our Pilgrim Journey began very early on Sunday morning (19th Sept.) when we all met the coach at Rhyl.

Once we were all aboard Father Charles Ramsay from St Mary's parish in Rhyl began our pilgrimage with prayers.

Around eight in the morning we arrived at the car park. We were given our passes and began a rather long walk to the site.

Venerating the Mother of God

This year's feast day of Our Lady of Walsingham was attended by a few extra pilgrims from the Diocese of Wrexham. Pilgrims included parishioners from Bangor, Colwyn Bay, Abergele, Towyn, Prestatyn, Queensferry and Denbigh organised by Mr and Mrs Edward Mann. The celebrants of the masses and daily prayers were Rev. Ian Dalgleish from our own, St Joseph's parish, Denbigh and Rev. Abraham from Queensferry.

The Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady has a deep sense of peace and tranquility, which is unfortunately absent from many places in the modern world. However, a pilgrimage to Walsingham can be a life changing experience which brings many much closer to the Blessed Mother of God and her Son.

More on God and Money

 

The rich man and Lazarus

My sermon today, 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year 'C':

 

The readings this Sunday follow on closely from the readings we had last Sunday and they address similar themes: our attitude to money and wealth and our attitude to the divisions between rich and poor.

The Old Testament prophet Amos denounces groups of people in his own time who are living luxuriously and self-indulgently, oblivious of the collapse of their country. They're fiddling while Rome burns, or at any rate partying while Rome burns, and that involves a blindness and a selfishness which, Amos implies, won't go unpunished in the long run. Like all the prophets Amos is using the language of threat to jolt his listeners into a new awareness and a change of values.

The Papal Visit, in the eyes of the youth

This weekend, I had the fantastic opportunity of going to London to see His Holiness on the 2010 Papal State visit to the UK!
We arrived in London waiting eagerly to see Pope Benedict XVI celebrate the Mass in Westminster Cathedral in London.

God and Money

My sermon for tomorrow, 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C:

One of the ideas which Pope Benedict has been very keen to counter during his visit to Britain is the idea that religious faith should be excluded from the public sphere. To put it another way, he's been defending the principle that Christians have an obligation, as part of their faith commitment, to contribute to the public discussion of moral issues, to try to shape people's moral outlook and persuade them to accept the gospel, and to bring a Christian influence to bear on the moral tone of society at large.

Catholics, Good and Bad

 

Pope Benedict: due to touch down in Edinburgh on Thursday 

A few days ago, in advance of Pope Benedict's state visit to Britain, Radio Four broadcast a forty-five minute programme, The Pope’s British Divisions, in which the former Dominican friar Mark Dowd travelled to various parts of the country to interview Catholics about their faith. I heard the original broadcast and then listened again to the recording on BBC i-player.

In the past, Catholics who lost their faith or disagreed with important items of doctrine or morality would usually cease to regard themselves as bona fide Catholics. What is curious about today’s situation, as Dowd’s programme revealed, is the number of people who believe that rejecting basic Catholic principles doesn’t make then “bad” Catholics.

The Return of the Prodigal Son

My homily for tomorrow, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C:

The readings this Sunday touch on one of the most important aspects of Christ's teaching as 'good news': the truth that God is ever ready to forgive our offences and shows infinite patience in waiting for us to realise our need for forgiveness, to reach that decisive moment of spiritual awakening which Jesus illustrates with his parable of the prodigal son.

First Holy Communion Mass - the Big Day

Sunday 5th September, 4.30pm. Seconds before Mass starts an effulgent ray of divine light illuminates the dozing guide dogs.

 

In the sacristy, the crack team of altar servers are the epitome of relaxed calm.

 

 The bell rang and off we went.

First Communion Sermon

Here's the sermon I gave at the First Holy Communion Mass on Sunday - or the main part of it, anyway:

During his ministry Jesus addressed himself to adults. He appealed to adult minds and consciences to place themselves under God's rule.

In the early years of the Church's life, after Jesus' resurrection, the community soon faced the situation where the adults, having themselves converted, had their children to bring up. The judgement was quickly reached that they had a duty to bring their children up as fellow-believers and fellow-disciples. Children were baptised as babies - claimed for Christ and initiated into membership of the Christian community - and their parents assumed the responsibility of teaching them the Christian faith and way of life as they got older.

First Holy Communion Mass - preparations

Tomorrow three children are making their First Holy Communion at St. Joseph's.

It would have taken place earlier in the year but for the fact that the lessons started later than usual and some family members were abroad for almost the whole of the summer. So we settled on the first Sunday after the start of the new school term.