VATICAN - The Pope’s weekly teaching at the general audience : “Even in solitude, forsaken by his loved ones, the praying believer is never completely alone, the all merciful God is with him”.

Wednesday, 28 April 2004

Vatican City (Fides Service) - In his teaching for the general audience in St Peter’s Square this morning Wednesday 28 April, Pope John Paul II continued his reflections on the Liturgy of Vespers, commenting Psalm 26,7-14 “Prayer of the innocent man ” (Vespers Wednesday week 1)). “The Liturgy of Vespers divides Psalm 26, in two parts following the structure of the text which is similar to a diptych - the Pope explained -. Today we have proclaimed the second part of this song of confidence in the Lord on the dark day when evil attacks.”
“The decisive element is the praying believer’s trust that the Lord will save him in the hour of trial and sustain him in the tempest” the Holy Father said, highlighting three main symbolic elements. The first is fear of the adversary “described as wild beast which «longs» for its prey and then more directly as«false witnesses» breathing out violence like wild beasts before their victims ”. The second image “illustrates more clearly the confidence of the believer, even when forsaken by mother and father... “Even in solitude, forsaken by loved ones, the praying believer is never completely alone, the all merciful God is with him. To all those elderly people, the sick, who are forgotten, whom no one offers a caress, we recall these words of the Psalmist and the prophet so they may feel the Lord’s paternal and maternal hand silently and lovingly touch their faces lined with pain and often with tears.” The last symbol, reiterated more than once in the Psalm, is connected with the search for the face of the Lord: “Therefore the face of the Lord is the goal of the spiritual research of the praying believer.”
“In the language of the Psalms «seeking the face of the Lord» is often synonymous with entering the temple to celebrate and experience communion with the God of Sion - the Pope concluded -. But the expressions includes also mystical longing for closeness with God through prayer. In the Liturgy therefore, and in personal prayer, we are granted the grace of perceiving that face which we will never see directly during our life on earth ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 28/4/2004 - Righe 23; Parole 348)


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