In the wake of the streak of feasts of Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and Body & Blood of Christ behind us, we're now in what is called Ordinary time.

It is a unique time to give ourselves permission to be seduced more deeply and intimately into the mystery of God's presence in our lives.

True story

I love gazing into the night sky and marvelling at God's gifted presence in God's creation.

I've got my father to thank for this since he loved to follow the tv series called ‘the night sky' fronted by Peter Read.

Dare should one of my 5 siblings and I make a noise, we would be instantly silenced.

The other Friday evening I finally fulfilled a long-time desire to visit Whanganui's historic Ward Observatory.

Peering through the 161-year-old telescope, I could see the craters on the moon.

Absolutely amazing!

The guide had an infectious passion for outer space and filled us with awe in his easy-to-understand explanations of the 5 main layers of earth's atmosphere, galaxies and stars.

We were left spellbound at his presentation.

What left me shamefully speechless was the fact that the observatory guide's day job was gathering the grocery trolley's left in car parks and storing them in the trolley bay outside our regular supermarket.

Why was I surprised that this could be the same person or that he could be more than he appeared on the outside?

I never made any verbal judgement because I value what he does, but I must have unconsciously, hence my surprise.

Often, we only scratch the surface in our relationships and miss seeing what God sees in each other.

My reception to receive First Communion and Confirmation was put on hold because I failed to answer the questions fired at me correctly.

Back in those black-and-white catechism days when one's faith was gauged on knowing the facts of faith proved troubling for me because no one recognised that deep inside was a strong awareness of God and an innate joy in knowing Jesus.

Critically judging another on outward appearances, or what we see in the first instance, only serves to narrow our appreciation of their natural and spiritual capabilities.

Of course, we all make many judgment calls during our day.

From what to cook for tea to the right time to prune the roses.

From choosing to apologise or attend a meeting to deciding what situations mightn't be safe.

Positive judgments can affirm and warm our hearts.

Cruel verbal judgments cut deep into our very souls.

Do we really believe ourselves to be more superiorly perfect to point the finger at others when we don't know the whole truth of the person we're condemning?

Jesus didn't mince His words calling this hypocrisy. (Matthew 7:5)

The bottom line is that highlighting another's faults and failings has more to do with oneself. Those flaws in ourselves that we fail to own yet see with crystal clarity in others.

Jesus puts this another way by using the graphic image of seeing the splinter in another's eye but fail to notice the plank in our own. (Matthew 7:3)

Come the end of the day, judging others presents us with an opportunity - a choice. Either to own the shadow parts of the self enabling us to become more fully our Baptismal selves - or not?

Look how Jesus was able to slice through Paul's criminal record to become an evangeliser, or Peter's impulsiveness to name him church leader and Jesus was able to trust the astute unnamed Samaritan woman to tell the village of her encounter with Him.

Are we not able to do likewise?

There is nothing boring about these 33 weeks of ordinary time.

When we find ourselves nit-picking another - pause - drop the magnifying glass and pick up the mirror!

And for the record, I do put my grocery trolley away when I've loaded my groceries in the car!

• Sue Seconi - is a member of the Catholic Parish of Whanganui - Te Parihi Katorika Ki Whanganui

The disciples not only linked the dots but were convinced without a doubt that ‘their mutual friend' was the Son of the Living God.

He was the Saviour their ancestor had pined for. Jesus' execution on the Cross at Calvary wasn't just a scandal.

His assent into Heaven at the Mount of Olives wasn't about abandonment, nor was His grave that Joseph of Arimathea had hacked out for himself, His permanent resting place.

God's entry into our human history began when Jesus was born in a barn in the dead of night.

All quite the opposite to the dramatic arrival of God's Holy Spirit, which was more ‘out-there'.

In broad daylight, with high winds and fire-shaped flames, speaking of different languages and the people gathered, being directed out.

Pentecost made sure God's enduring presence in the Church was undeletable and irreversible. It overturned any thoughts that God might become flesh for just 33 years.

What other reason could explain the Church's survival down through the centuries, particularly when grace and sin went head-to-head?

Consider the major split between East and West in 1054, fuelled more so by the stubborn Patriarch of Constantinople Cerularius and the hot-headed Cardinal Humbert, who excommunicated each other!

Then 300 years later when 3 popes each claimed to be the true leader. St Catherine of Siena diplomatically returned the papacy from Avignon to Rome.

When England's Queen Elizabeth 1st declared in 1558 Mass was unlawful, never deterred Catholics and priests from gathering to celebrate the Sacraments despite being barbarically tortured to death if caught.

Jewish teacher Gamaliel may have been accurate when he boldly stated.

If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin, it will break up on its own accord: but if it does come from God, you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourself fighting against God. (Acts 5:38-39).

Pentecost is referred to as the birthday of the Church.

Like our own birthdays, it annually marks an entry point. Unique times of reflecting over one's life to recognise Jesus' spirit were there in the dark heartaches and joys all along. Seeing the big picture brings its own personal consolation.

I accompanied my mother for a decade as she declined from a neurological debilitating disease. Only when God called her home did I see that Jesus' spirit was most involved when I was tempted when I'd had enough and wanted her to die then and there.

Hindsight is a revelation.

My Pentecost experience wasn't a light bulb moment.

Rather it was a gradual maturing of simultaneously coming to ‘understand' and of ‘responding'.

This real or imagined story helped.

Two friends had spent a beautiful Holy Week at a nearby monastery.

Driving home, their hearts were still skipping after being soaked in the spirit.

Suddenly they saw a man lying on the roadside. They quickly decided to drive past, fearing it could be a trap.

Safely home, they had lost the spirit of that Holy Week and were feeling flat.

For 7 days, they had accompanied Jesus from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday yet failed to even alert the authorities to investigate as basic prudence would have dictated.

As Catholics in a faith community, we often neglect to figure out that gathering around the Altar to celebrate Sunday Eucharist isn't just for me - or you? There are responsibilities.

God's Holy Spirit enables us - authorizes us to become missionary disciples and to invite others to join us.

Just how am I to make disciples? Matthew 28:19-20

Not by indoctrinating another or using guilt, but as Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium suggests, by attraction.

It's a matter of keeping our antennae attentive when others around us may desire for themselves that same inner Gospel beauty they experience in us.

We don't have to become a rocket scientist or hold degrees in scripture or church history.

How do we go forth? Matthew 28:19-20

We all live in a secular society.

Going forth simply means giving ourselves permission to risk stretching ourselves from the safety of our comfort zones and engaging with simple, mutually respectful dialogue.

The power to do so is within us.

We just need to feel the fear, but do it.

Give it a go this Pentecost day!

• Sue Seconi - is a member of the Catholic Parish of Whanganui - Te Parihi Katorika Ki Whanganui

All 47 parables provoke us to look at our attitudes towards each other. Do we behave maturely and respectfully? Will everyone know that God really and truly lives amongst us?

This ‘looking' sounds a little like Lent.

Parables are as ageless as they are contemporary. We've heard them many times yet some remain straight forward and others more complicated.

The unforgiving debtor (Matthew 18:21-35) simply asks: can we likewise play generosity forward when we didn't protest when accepting another generosity.

The unscrupulous judge & the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) encourages us never to stop praying and hoping no matter the severity of being in a no-win situation.

The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) directly states to do the right thing is often about slicing through prejudices, financial classes and warnings not to get involved. No time for any risk assessment.

I find myself slightly defensive with the parable about the vineyard workers. (Matthew 20:1-16) I say it's unfair to give the same rate of pay regardless of hours worked. As an ex-union delegate, I would hope Jesus would be sitting on our workers side of the negotiating table, particularly presenting the argument for the living wage.

But the bottom line is this: - God's indescribable graciousness is for all. God's call to all, stretches right ‘across the board'. There's no jostling for position whether we've lived the Gospel all our lives or at a deathbed conversion.

The most touchingly beautiful parable, is about God's redeeming love contained in the parable of the prodigal son. (Luke 15:11-32)

At a family level, it's about a father and his 2 sons, tough love, selfishness, growing up pains, integration, sibling rivalry, but above all, it's about the ease with which God pardons.

One son asks for his inheritance. Heading off to live the high life in the big city, until that inevitable day arrives when there were insufficient funds. At the point of seeing what sin had turned him into i.e. acting like a pig - did he simultaneously come to realize that God's forgiving love awaits him. In that moment he decides to head home.

The father didn't drill about his bedraggled state, but rushes to greet him, embraces him, slips a ring on his finger, sandals on his barefeet, flings a robe over his shoulders and throws a party to celebrate.

"Bring the calf we have been fattening and kill it. We are going to have it to feast".

I can smell that joint of meat on the spit - can you?

The other son catches up with these unfolding events when he hears music coming from the house. The reconciliatory party in full swing, he confronts his father demanding clarification. Fair enough I say, he'd kept the farm running while short staffed.

"I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends". He protested.

"All I have is yours." (Luke 15:31) the father says back to him.

The beautiful truth stares him in the face: the need to mature from believing that the ‘law brings reward' mentality is enough to bring us to our truest inner self. It's not! God's gift of forgiveness is to be experienced. The difference between the 2 brothers is one had discovered this for himself and other had not.

You see, we are already God's gift. This is not so much earnt through obedience to the law only, but discovering at that Easter weekend, how God has loved us right from the get go. Granting forgiveness isn't solely about recognising how sin can turn us into a toxic human person, but that pardoning is so just so much greater.

It's certainly not a mystery to knock our heads against, but one of entering into it.

So now, what about a prodigal mother and her 2 daughters. That's for another time!

• Sue Seconi - is a member of the Catholic Parish of Whanganui - Te Parihi Katorika Ki Whanganui
• First published by Kotahi Ano. Reproduced with permission of the author.

I actually feel as if I'm back in July somewhere.

Putting up the decorations triggers memories of Christmas' that were either tough or wonderful, and final relief comes when the Christmas lights work first pop.

Wrapping up the gifts and putting them under the tree with my favourite Christmas CD playing gives me the warm fuzzies.

Posting and receiving Christmas cards is a way of keeping up with the news of friends dotted around the world.

When I make my great, great grandmother's Irish pastry recipe for my fruit mince pies, handed down through the generations, I find a certain family connection with those who have long gone and whom I never knew.

I thoroughly enjoy the end of year gatherings and Christmas functions once I've figured out what to wear along with my Christmas earrings.

Christmas offers a unique sense of friendship, enabling us to enquire about what others are doing for Christmas because no one wants to see another alone.

Wishing Merry Christmas is a prayer of blessings offered and received.

Yet, when these age-old traditions, sounds, memories, smells, songs, tastes, and customs are peeled back, the truth that God entered human history in the birth of Jesus 2,000 years ago stands before us.

Simple and uncomplicated this child is God. This invisible God becoming visible.

A personal God who knows each of us by name and remains with us forever in the spirit of Jesus to this very day.

Advent is about pausing to take all of this in.

At home, the nativity set is placed on the mantelpiece and the advent wreath on the dining room table, both reminders of the reason for the season.

I let Advent speak to my heart. What do I hear? What do you hear?

The joint pining with our Old Testament faith ancestors longing for the coming of Emmanual, perhaps? - and today's great hope in Jesus coming again.

"A maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son, whom she will call Emmanual" Isaiah prophesied in 7:14.

Conceived by the power of God's Holy Spirit, Mary and Joseph didn't need to have a gender reveal party.

Isaiah had let the cat out of the bag centenaries earlier!

No time to prepare baby's bedroom either.

They had to get to Bethlehem's smallish and obscure town to participate in the compulsory Roman census.

With zero accommodation, all came to pass when Mary gave birth to their first-born son named Jesus in a farm yard stable. Just getting her breastfeeding established, it was back on the donkey bound for Egypt to avoid their baby being killed by the narcissist Herod.

These young parents would have been very conscious that other parents would have blamed them for their own sons' killings by Herod's lynch men.

This would have wrenched their hearts at the huge cost of lives slaughtered to protect their boy.

It was a close shave for Jesus, but not come Good Friday.

This child - this saviour of the world who bought the message of Joy, would come to be crucified and rise, opening the way to life eternal in Heaven. Death didn't have the final say. Christmas is mixed with joy and sorrow.

And it's in this exact truth when we find our lives turned upside down in suffering and personal struggles, we discover deep within a certain joy, all because of this baby being born. This God-who-is-with-us is in the thick and thin of our lives.

Franciscan priest Richard Rohr says this in his book called Preparing for Christmas on the last page.

Incarnation is already Redemption.

The problem is solved.

Now go and utterly enjoy all remaining days.

Not only is it "Always Advent," but every day can now be Christmas because the one we thought we were just waiting for has come once and for all.

• Sue Seconi - The Catholic Parish of Whanganui - Te Parihi Katorika Ki Whanganui

Issues only go away when they are dealt with.

The New Zealand Catholic Bishop's Conference National Synthesis sent to Rome on 16th August 2022 completes New Zealand's stage in the synodal process.

Responses from each Diocese were categorized under 6 themes: Inclusion, Gathering, Leadership, Education & Formation, Mission and Synodality & Change.

The New Zealand contribution, combined with other country syntheses, will form the basis of Pope Francis' document, which is expected to be released next year.

While the New Zealand synthesis goes offshore, it does not give the option for our Bishops and any of us actually to wait until Pope Francis' document is released to act.

Each Diocese's synthesis exposes the thinking of its parishioners in the raw.

Deep genuine listening requires that the narrative be heard and responded to.

Bishops - as chief missionary disciples, you must lead us into the new evangelical maturity we ache for in our faith communities.

Unafraid, you must engage with your priests and leadership teams for all to grow forward.

Working towards co-responsible leadership will require a spirit of mutual respect.

Formation for those engaged in ministries associated with Eucharist is a calling to use one's spiritual gifts and not just a matter of getting whoever one can.

Everyone is responsible for the spiritual well-being of their parishes and church communities.

Those ostracised from community worship, for whatever reason, are too great in number to ignore. This must be a priority.

To those who feel far from God and the Church, to all those who are fearful or indifferent, I would like to say this: the Lord, with great respect and love, is also calling you to be a part of his people. Says Pope Francis' article 113 of Evangelii Gaudium - the Joy of the Gospel.

The mighty blessing of the Eucharist celebrated Sunday after Sunday is a reconciliatory celebration for some, but not for everyone.

Pope Francis suggests in Evangelii Gaudium, the value of offering accompaniment without a time-frame or instant results, but always with the hoped outcome to finding friendship in Eucharist.

Perhaps each parish could put in place a pathway offering respectful listening with this hope in mind.

While matters relating to dogma and language need to be directed to various Vatican departments surely such an initiative do not require papal approval.

What is required is we notice who is missing and go out to them instead of expecting them to come to us.

He or she invites others to let themselves be healed, to take up their mat, embrace the cross, leave all behind and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. Article 172

Jesus puts this experience simply beautiful in the parable of the lost coin. (Luke 15:8-10) She hunted high and low. Not satisfied that she had 9 already, she searched along the top kitchen cupboards, fell in behind the couch squabs and even went through the rubbish tins as well as retracing her footsteps. Bingo! So relieved to find it, she wanted everyone to be happy with her.

We've not been left home alone.

Jesus reminds us that His presence wasn't going to wrap up at the Cross. The last sentence in St Matthew's Gospel reads like this: And know that I am with you always: yes, to the end of time. (28:20)

"The purpose of this Synod is not to produce more documents. Rather, it is intended to inspire people to dream about the Church we are called to be, to make people's hopes flourish, to stimulate trust, to bind up wounds, to weave new and deeper relationships to learn from one another, to build bridges, to enlighten minds, warm hearts and restore strength to our hands for our common mission." From the Synod Preparatory Document.

I'm no cheese or winemaker, and this has its difficulties when we, the Church, move at a snail's pace. But at the end of the day, we're dealing with people's lives and not just themes.

Heavens, Synod participants knew we weren't filling out a random consumer questionnaire about the best outdoor deck cleaner or most effective toothpaste!

• Sue Seconi - The Catholic Parish of Whanganui - Te Parihi Katorika Ki Whanganui

"They are the Church - co-responsible with bishops, priests, and religious for Christ's mission on earth" writes Martin Work in "Laity" an introductory observation prefacing Apostolicam Actuositatem. (The decree on the laity).

We are the People of God the decree states.

Because of the first sacrament of initiation, all of us stand on the same Baptismal platform, different but equal in the same priesthood of Jesus.

When introduced to the world on the Vatican balcony in 2013, Pope Francis couldn't have demonstrated this point better, he asked the people to bless him.

Other Popes have blessed the people!

During the debate that eventually formed the document called Apostolicam Actuositatem, a layperson noted that we laypeople have existed since Jesus lived in Jerusalem.

"Been on the back burner" he said, "until this decree on the laity when it was shoved onto the front burner and came to the point of boiling".

That was back in 1964!

Those laypeople, like us today, lived ordinary lives, yet were called to move into ministries to build the infant church.

Paul, (Acts 18:3) was a tradesman and Lydia, (Acts 16:14) an astute businesswoman.

Both were called to evangelization.

Peter, (John 1:44) involved in the fishing industry was called to lead.

The nameless Samaritan woman (John 4:29) who had no problems cross-examining Jesus, went on to evangelize.

Baptism into the Christian Mystery of Redemption is not for oneself, nor one culture. It's for all.

Our mission is to recognise those around us who may be searching for Jesus died, Jesus risen and Jesus with us.

We are, by the obligation of Baptism, missionary disciples.

The Vatican Council is pointing us towards, and God's Holy Spirit is calling us, to reshape the church.

Could the circumstances we face today, with more parishes than priests, be the situation that could truly realize the original intention of the Council those 6 decades earlier?

The ordained and non-ordained working beside each other in a joint relationship of co-responsibility in a shared leadership model, bringing to reality the place of the laity?

Pope Benedict told the International Forum of Catholic action in August 2012:

"Co-responsibility demands a change in mindset especially concerning the role of lay people in the church. They should not be regarded as ‘collaborators' of the clergy, but, rather, as people who are really co-responsible for the church's being and acting.

"It is therefore important that a mature and committed laity be consolidated, which can make its own specific contribution to the ecclesial mission with respect for the ministries and tasks that each one has in the life of the church and always in cordial communion with the bishops".

Over recent years the non-ordained have assumed greater responsibilities in education, administration and sacramental programmes.

In my view, it is the area of lay leadership that needs to break new ground with a genuine commitment from the ordained and non-ordained to

• leadership,
• engaging ecumenically,
• advocating for those considered to be of little account,
• ensuring that language is inclusive,
• assimilation of immigrant spiritualities,
• guaranteeing personal safety,
• supporting those involved in social justice issues, and
• accompanying anyone seeking full integration into parish life, all of which calls for the mature use of our spiritual gifts.

There is a sense of urgency to step up the dialogue, to begin to visualize, deliberate and strategize.

This is everyone's business.

We just can't wait to see what happens.

We need to begin now to identify our leaders, to form them to preside over liturgies, to baptise, to lead funeral services and facilitate marriages.

We need to look around now to recognise those amongst us, who have the gift of leadership.

Maybe it is the parent whose youngster gets grizzly, the parishioner who is obviously moved by the Sunday readings, or the one who sits in the same back row Sunday after Sunday!

• Sue Seconi is a parishioner in the Palmerston North Diocese.