My sermon for yesterday, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. I can't pretend that the idea is my own; I nicked it from this book, by the Jesuit academic, Patrick Madigan.
The men and women who were baptised by John in the river Jordan were answering his appeal to repent their past sins and make a new start in their relationship with God, and that means that there's a bit of a puzzle in Jesus presenting himself for baptism, because he didn't need to leave behind a life of sin and re-dedicate himself to God.
A few edifying photographs taken at the end of the 4.30pm Mass on Sunday. A box of frankincense and myrrh miraculously appeared too, but no gold - it must have ended up in the Gold-for-Cash shop in Vale Street.
My sermon for last Sunday, the feast of the Epiphany:
There are passages of the Old Testament which look forward to a time when God's gift of salvation will be offered not just to the Chosen People but to the whole of humanity. The great theme of today's feast, the Epiphany of the Lord, is that with the birth of Jesus that time has arrived.
My sermon for last Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family:
Quite often during my time as a priest I've had the experience of being told by parents that they don't believe in "brainwashing" their children about religion; that they think it's right to let their children "make their own mind up" about God and faith as they get older.
The idea seems to be that any attempt to pass on definite religious convictions is an interference with their children's freedom. At the extreme end of this viewpoint, we also have people like Richard Dawkins, who go as far as describing a religious upbringing of any kind as a form of child abuse.
The New Testament gives us two versions of the story of Jesus' birth, St Matthew's and St Luke's. We've listened to both of them tonight, during the Carol Service (St Matthew) and then in the Mass (St Luke).
Both Matthew and Luke, in common with so many of the hymns we sing and the prayers we use every year at Christmas time, describe Jesus as a king - the divine king, the Messiah, our Lord and Saviour, God Incarnate.
At St Joseph's this year we again had a "Service of Christmas Carols and Readings" starting at 11.00pm, followed immediately by Midnight Mass.
Here's how things looked about ten minutes before we started the Carol Service - all a bit "bare, ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang".
Fortunately, in time-honoured fashion, people kept arriving during the service so that by the time Mass started, the numbers had doubled. Even so, there were only about sixty people (so one parishioner told me this morning after Mass) and the church seemed to be only half full.
Once Mass began we managed to film some parts. So here are some of the musical highlights. You can decide for yourself which heading sums things up best: Wales - Land of Song or Catholics Can't Sing!
Last night and this morning it was North Wales' turn to get the kind of heavy snowfall that other parts of the country have had over the last few weeks.
Here are some of the photographs I took:
late last night, outside my house....
....and in Vale Street.
Here's how St Joseph's looked this afternoon:
at the main entrance and car park....
....in the back garden of the presbytery....
and in the front garden:
Last of all, a picture of Denbigh Castle from Lon Llewelyn:
Last Saturday (20th November) the parish had its annual Christmas Fayre in Denbigh Town Hall. We made over £1,000, not counting the few extra donations that came in after the event. The Fayre only lasted two hours (10am - midday) and while it was going on I took a few pictures.
Santa Claus made an appearance with his glamorous assistant and gave out some early Christmas presents:
And the festive spirit manifested itself in a sudden outbreak of ridiculous headgear:
