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Skriven 2006-02-12 17:09:36 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Press Release
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                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
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                               VIS-Press releases

GOD INCLINES BEFORE THE FRAGILE AND DEFENSELESS CREATURES

VATICAN CITY, FEB 8, 2006 (VIS) - In Wednesday's General Audience, celebrated
in the Paul VI Hall, Pope Benedict XVI commented on the second part of Psalm
144, "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom."

The psalmist focuses his attention, said the Holy Father, "on the love that the
Lord reserves, in a special way, for the poor and weak. This Divine royalty is
not arrogant or haughty, as can sometimes happen with the exercise of human
power. God expresses His royalty by inclining before the most fragile and
defenseless of creatures."

"God is, above all else, a Father who sustains those who are about to fall and
lifts back up again those who have fallen in the dust of humiliation. Living
beings are directed therefore to the Lord, as hungry beggars, and as a loving
Father He offers the necessary nourishment to live."

Pope Benedict XVI said that the psalmist "invokes" the Lord with a trusting
prayer, he searches for the Lord "with a sincere heart," "fear" for his God,
respecting His will and obedient to His word, but above all, he "loves the Lord
with the confidence of being brought under the mantle of His protection and
intimacy."

"The last word of the psalmist is the same as that with which he opened his
hymn: it is an invitation to praise and bless the Lord and His name, that is to
say, His living and holy Person who works and saves, both in the world and in
history...it is the type of timeless song that should raise from earth to
heaven, it is the communal celebration of the universal love of God, source of
peace, joy and salvation."

At the end of the catechesis, the Holy Father recalled the ascetic Barsanufio
de Gaza, who died in the middle of the sixth century. De Gaza advised a
disciple facing temptations to ask for the Lord's assistance, with the
confidence that He would listen. "This is valuable for us also" the Holy Father
explained in an impromptu style, "before our difficulties and problems, we
should invoke the Lord, asking for His help, with the certainty that He will
hear us, without becoming discouraged, knowing that in this way, we will reach
the goal: Jesus, the Lord."
AG/PSALM 144/...VIS 060208 (280)

SUMMARY

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