Appealing to God amid an unjust sentencing

Another Sunday without the Eucharist. I pray my other prayers with some extra zeal to mark the Lord’s day. The food is a bit better for Sunday, with the main meal about 11:30 a.m. and a nice salad with a jam roll, a Swiss roll, as we called it in my childhood, for the 3:30 p.m. meal. Not too bad, either. I suspect I am putting on a bit of weight, despite leaving a lot of the calorie-heavy food uneaten.

A surprise visit to the doctor this morning to check my blood pressure, which was 145 over 80-something. I was still ever so slightly off the pace, but better than yesterday.

As my feet come near to the end of the bed that abuts onto a stone wall, they were cold. I had some trouble getting to sleep. I put on socks and took off my jail top, which was too heavy under a couple of blankets. Woke up around 2 a.m., but resorted to saying the rosary, which did the trick as it usually does for me, and I went to sleep.

I used to tell the teenagers and young adults that if they did not pray when they were in trouble, then their faith was weak indeed. It follows from this that I should not feel guilty or rather uneasy here in jail when I pray because I feel needy. I find I can turn to God to pray in the empty times, when I have no work or distraction, and I thank God for this small progress.

Even when I am a bit uneasy and I start to pray, I do not always ask for anything, although I often ask for peace and strength and pray for all those whom I have omitted to pray for when I should have.

I always offer part of my daily breviary prayer for the Church victims of pedophilia in Australia, not only for my accuser in these trials, as has been reported. To require accusers to prove their case is not to be anti-victim, but to establish that they are victims. Many have been falsely accused, including myself many times, and we do not have justice unless justice is given to all parties.

Courage was often lacking in those who should have tackled this abuse early on, and courage can be lacking when the pendulum changes direction and swings to excess.

… In the breviary, Job is battling on eloquently making two points, i.e., blaming God for his troubles and insisting that God has the power to do something about it. He is in charge. Man can achieve very, very little. God’s verdict is that wisdom “is the fear of the Lord” and understanding is “avoidance of evil” (Job 28:20-28).

Excerpt from Prison Journal – Volume 1: The Cardinal Makes His Appeal, by George Cardinal Pell (Ignatius Press, 2020), pp. 40-41. www.ignatius.com

GEORGE CARDINAL PELL, formerly Archbishop of Sydney (2001-2014) and of Melbourne (1996-2001), Australia, was acquitted in April 2020 after being unjustly convicted and imprisoned in solitary confinement for 404 days for sex abuse. His conviction ultimately was unanimously overturned by the Australian High Court last year. Other titles by Cardinal Pell include Test Everything: Hold Fast to What Is Good and Issues of Faith and Morals.