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Skriven 2005-12-08 07:08:30 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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Hello All!

                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

GOD DEFENDS THE WEAKEST

VATICAN CITY, DEC 7, 2005 (VIS) - In the general audience held this morning in
St. Peter's Square, Benedict XVI continued his catechesis on the Psalms,
speaking on Psalm 137, "a hymn of thanksgiving." Twenty thousand pilgrims
filled the square to hear the Holy Father's words.

The psalmist, said the Pope, "raises his voice before the Temple assembly or,
at least, having the Shrine of Zion as a reference. ... He sings before God Who
is in heaven with His host of angels, but Who also listens within the earthly
space of the Temple."

"The psalmist is certain that the 'name' of the Lord - in other words His
personal, living and active reality and His virtues of faithfulness and mercy -
are the ... bastion of all faith and all hope. The psalmist's gaze then goes
back for an instant to the past, to the day of suffering, when the divine voice
answered the faithful's anguished cry, infusing courage into his troubled
soul."

"Following this apparently personal premise," the Holy Father continued, "the
psalmist extends his gaze to the earth and imagines his testimony incorporating
the entire horizon: 'All the kings of the earth' ... join the Jewish psalmist
in a common hymn of praise in honor of the greatness and regal power of the
Lord."

The themes of this chorus of praise, the Pope explained, are "the 'glory' and
the 'ways' of the Lord. ... God is clearly 'high' and transcendent, but He
'regards the lowly' with affection while removing the haughty from His sight.
... Thus, God chooses to defend the weak, the victims, the smallest; and this
fact is conveyed to all kings that they might know which option to choose in
governing their nations."

The closing section of the psalm contains an imploration to the Lord for His
help in the trials of life, and a reference to the wrath of enemies. "A kind of
symbol," said Pope Benedict, "of the hostility the just may face during their
journey through history."

"We must be certain," the Pope concluded, "that however burdensome and stormy
are the trials that await us, we will never be left alone, we will never fall
from the Lord's hands, the hands that created us and that now follow us on
life's itinerary. As St. Paul confesses: 'He Who began a good work in you will
bring it to completion'."
AG/PSALM 137/... VIS 051207 (410)

SUMMARY

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