Vatican City,
16th November 2005 (CNA)
- The continued presence of God with His
people throughout history was the major theme of
Pope Benedict XVI’s weekly Wednesday audience,
held earlier today at the Vatican.
22,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s
Square to hear the Holy Father as he continued his
ongoing catechesis on the psalms--today speaking
on the latter half of Psalm 135, which he called,
“thanksgiving for God’s salvation.”Benedict first
recalled that the first part of the psalm
proclaims "faith in God the Creator, Who reveals
Himself through His works of creation," while the
second half leads us to "the presence of God ...
in the history of salvation."
The Pope pointed out that God’s presence
with his people, Israel, is particularly made
manifest in the events of the exodus from Egypt,
the crossing of the Red Sea, and the journey
through the desert.
"Desert and sea," said the Pope, "represent
the passage through evil and oppression to receive
the gift of freedom and of the promised land."He
said that during the future time of humiliation -
trials and oppression which would later befall the
people- “Israel would always encounter the saving
hand of the God of freedom and love.
"Pinnacle of HistoryPope Benedict went on
to explain that Psalm 135 contains within it "two
modalities of the one divine revelation [which]
are intertwined: the cosmic, and the historical.”
He said that “the Lord is, of course,
transcendent as the Creator and Arbiter of
existence, but He is also near to His creatures,
entering into space and time. Indeed, His presence
among us reaches its pinnacle in the Incarnation
of Christ.
"The Pope cited the Fathers of the Church
who testify to this fact and, he said, “see the
apex of the history of salvation, and the supreme
sign of the Father's merciful love, in the gift of
the Son as Savior and Redeemer of
humanity.
"Benedict concluded his prepared catechesis
by recalling St. Cyprian who, in his tractate on
"Works of Charity and Alms-giving," reflects on
"the great deeds God has accomplished for His
people in Christ."
Afterwards, speaking off-the-cuff, the Pope
noted that "With these words, the holy doctor of
the Church adds something to what the psalmist
said: that the true gift of the Son of God is the
gift of the Incarnation, in which He gave Himself
to us, and which remains with us in the Eucharist,
in His Word, every day until the end of
history.""We often run the risk”, he continued,
“of our memory of the evil we have suffered being
stronger than our memory of good.”
The psalm however, “awakens our
recollection of goodness, of all the good the Lord
has done and continues to do, that we may finally
know what the psalmist so joyfully says: the truth
that God's mercy is eternal, it is present day
after.22,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s
Square to hear the Holy Father as he continued his
ongoing catechesis on the psalms--today speaking
on the latter half of Psalm 135, which he called,
“thanksgiving for God’s salvation.
”Benedict first recalled that the first
part of the psalm proclaims "faith in God the
Creator, Who reveals Himself through His works of
creation," while the second half leads us to "the
presence of God ... in the history of salvation."
The Pope pointed out that God’s presence with his
people, Israel, is particularly made manifest in
the events of the exodus from Egypt, the crossing
of the Red Sea, and the journey through the
desert.
"Desert and sea," said the Pope, "represent
the passage through evil and oppression to receive
the gift of freedom and of the promised land."He
said that during the future time of humiliation -
trials and oppression which would later befall the
people- “Israel would always encounter the saving
hand of the God of freedom and love."Pinnacle of
HistoryPope Benedict went on to explain that Psalm
135 contains within it "two modalities of the one
divine revelation [which] are intertwined: the
cosmic, and the historical.”
He said that “the Lord is, of course,
transcendent as the Creator and Arbiter of
existence, but He is also near to His creatures,
entering into space and time. Indeed, His presence
among us reaches its pinnacle in the Incarnation
of Christ.
"The Pope cited the Fathers of the Church
who testify to this fact and, he said, “see the
apex of the history of salvation, and the supreme
sign of the Father's merciful love, in the gift of
the Son as Savior and Redeemer of
humanity."Benedict concluded his prepared
catechesis by recalling St. Cyprian who, in his
tractate on "Works of Charity and Alms-giving,"
reflects on "the great deeds God has accomplished
for His people in Christ."
Afterwards, speaking off-the-cuff, the Pope
noted that "With these words, the holy doctor of
the Church adds something to what the psalmist
said: that the true gift of the Son of God is the
gift of the Incarnation, in which He gave Himself
to us, and which remains with us in the Eucharist,
in His Word, every day until the end of
history."
"We often run the risk”, he continued, “of
our memory of the evil we have suffered being
stronger than our memory of good.” The psalm
however, “awakens our recollection of goodness, of
all the good the Lord has done and continues to
do, that we may finally know what the psalmist so
joyfully says: the truth that God's mercy is
eternal, it is present day
after.
