Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Mark (4: 21-25) in which Jesus shares the parables of the lamp and the measure.

Fr Paul says this Gospel reading consists of two parables and their commentaries.

In the parable of the lamp, we should picture a flickering oil-lamp being carried in, perhaps a single wick floating in a saucer of olive-oil. It could be put under a bed or an up-turned bowl without causing a fire, but the point is to produce some light. If there is a lamp its purpose is to bring light. Jesus must be referring to his message. The explanation following suggests that the time for full revelation has not yet come.

Jesus was aware that his message, his conception of the Kingdom of God, was so far from the popular notion that it could not be understood immediately. Again and again, he teaches that they cannot fully understand what form his messiahship will take until he has suffered and risen from the dead. The purpose of his imagery is to disclose gently, as they are ready to understand. Then, eventually, all will be clear.

The second parable, the measure, is more akin to the Golden Rule, ‘Do not do to another what you would not want to be done to yourself’. The explanation may mean that, if you have enough goodwill to understand that, you will make progress. If not, there is no hope.

Mindful of today’s Gospel, Fr Paul invites us to ask ourselves, ‘Does Christ shine in my life by how I live?’ and, secondly, ‘How do I treat others in my life?’

Father Leo Donnelly: Centacare grew out of a very obvious need and if you look at the projects Centacare has realised the extent of those needs. They have been an extraordinary force in our Parish here in Port Macquarie and they have been in existence now for 20 years and I would like to congratulate them on the wonderful work they have done over those 20 years.

Tony Davies: I suppose the original way of 1995 was the commencement of Centacare. We were the first Parish model Centacare in Australia to be recognised and be allowed to be a member of the Catholic Social Services Australia. That was a major breakthrough.

The second one was probably the development of our programs for people with disabilities. That was the creation of the group home, I.M.A.G.E group home. And that allowed us to have a base to operate our disability services.

The other one was, in the early days, was the achievement of retrieving the current funding of the Youth Refuge, all done on voluntary basis. So they were the three main early ones.

Then we went into the mid 90 type areas or the late 90 type areas, and we started to work on the development of community housing and now we have just over 48 properties across the Hastings area. Supporting people who are socially and financially disadvantaged.

They’re some of the major achievements. Some of the other ones that we worked alongside with was the development of the Peace Community Youth Club, establishing this and we basically went parallel with this for nearly 10 years as a ace achieving PCYC in New South Wales.

Speaker: Respecting the dignity of each person.

Validating the culture of others.

Emphasising our commonalities rather than our differences.

Actively identifying our individual strengths.