Archbishop of Sydney

Ave Maria University

Naples, Florida
Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Cor 9:16-129, 22-23; Mk 1:29-39

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
5/2/2006

Initially puzzled by these readings as I tried to find a theme linking together Job with his fit of the blues, Paul explaining his duty to preach the gospel and Jesus at Peter’s home in Capernaum.

When looking at these texts in Europe I thought I had found the key in the refrain to the psalm which ran “Praise the Lord who heals the broken hearted”.  However that had to be ditched when I discovered that the refrain we are using today was “Shepherd me O God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death unto life”!

I have been a couple of times in northern Israel, Galilee, where Capernaum is situated.  It is still a beautiful part of the world around the lake and I find it consoling that Our Lord liked going there.  It seems the extent of the lake has changed significantly in 2000 years although the Jewish historian of about that time, Josephus, describes a much lusher vegetation with many trees, undergrowth and wild animals.

Capernaum was the centre of Jesus’ followers, which provoked the discontent and envy of his own family in Nazareth who wanted miracles from him but did not realise that they needed faith for this.

Peter had his house at Capernaum, and we can still see its traditional site next to the foundations of the Jewish synagogue.  For many years I chuckled to myself over Peter asking Jesus what he was to get in return for leaving everything to follow Jesus.  After all Peter was not one of the Rockefellers!  However Peter was a leader, probably one of the most successful fishermen in the village and certainly with significant assets if the present outline of his house is in anyway historical.

There are many theories about Jesus’ cure of Peter’s mother-in-law.  My scripture lecturer in Rome had an old fashioned and politically incorrect sense of humour and felt this cure was one reason why Peter later denied Our Lord!

There is another theory which might be a little closer to the truth, told to me by a senior wife and mother in the Neo-Catechumenal Way, where I have dined many times.  She felt that Peter’s mother-in-law was simply sick and tired of cooking regularly for so many of Peter’s religious friends and took to bed in protest!  This too seems short of the mark as Jesus’ visit cured her fever and she got up and waited on them.
One could say that in this gospel, with elements taken also from the other two readings we have the heart of Jesus’ work; to preach the good news of the gospel, to pray regularly, and to serve, in this case through healing the sick and possessed.

At the Legatus Summit one member explained that the secret for happiness is love and the heart of love is service.

Our Lord’s cure of Peter’s mother-in-law was typical of his regular work.  After sunset the whole village gathered at his door to be cured of sickness and demonic possession.

The frequency of demonic possession in Our Lord’s time is something of a problem because such possession by the devil seems to be much less frequent in our type of society.

Many of those today who believe they are possessed by the devil are judged to be suffering rather from psychological problems and we know physical illness, psychological disturbance and sin often run into one another.

I do believe in the reality of demonic possession as there is too much evidence for it which cannot be explained by any natural causes.  I believe too that where the Kingdom of God is truly stronger and more present in a society that demonic possession is less frequent and less tolerated by people, so that it is pushed to the margins.  If the culture of death, which Pope John Paul II named so aptly, becomes stronger, the spirit of evil will be more apparent.

It was the core of Our Lord’s work to go around the villages preaching the good news, the call to repent and believe; confronting sin and provoking a faith response.

In the second reading the greatest of the New Testament missionaries St. Paul spoke of his duty to preach the gospel.  He put up with every type of situation, was sensitive to the differences and prejudices of his listeners (I think this is what becoming weak to win over the weak might mean) to win them to Christ.

I was a seminary rector for a few years and one teaching I do not regret is to have urged my seminarians not to be talking about their boring personal lives, but to preach the gospel!

A final word about poor old Job, the most explicit attempt in the Old Testament to wrestle with the problem of undeserved suffering, of good people struck with terrible misfortune.  He needed a dose of Christian hope, despite his pessimism.  He did not recognize himself as a child of God, much less as a brother of the Son of God – as we Christians do.

He felt like a slave out in the scorching sun, longing for a bit of shade, unable to sleep at night.  He is no more than a hireling wondering when he will be paid.  He is ending his life without hope; someone of no more importance than a gust of wind.

Job’s was not an unprovoked attack of clinical depression, because the misfortunes in his life gave him every reason to be down, depressed.

We know today that there is enormous mental and spiritual suffering in our prosperous societies, increasingly connected with the aftermath of drug usage and especially marihuana, which provokes long-term depression.

We are called to serve the Jobs of today, men and women in this predicament.  Faith is a balm; repentance regularly brings psychological healing, the peace of a good conscience; the conviction of personal worth when faith gives purpose and direction to our lives.  Faith in the Lord is a wonderful stabilizing factor in the ups and downs of our lives.

Faith needs to be nourished in prayer, especially in these times of the culture wars when the most crucial and central battle is over the reality of faith, whether we believe that the one true God is good and loves us.  Society desperately needs to hear this message but more importantly to see it lived out.

Young people of faith can be marvellous strengtheners and encouraging to those of us who are older and we thank God for this.

Let us pray today for preachers to follow Jesus’ example and may all of us be regular in our prayer and in our service.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.