Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Sweet and sincere thanksgiving” coming from the heart of one who has been delivered from death: this was how Pope John Paul described the theme of Psalm 29 (“Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death ”, vespers Thursday week 1), which he chose for his teaching at the general audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday May 12.
This hymn of thanksgiving “is built on a series of contrasts which symbolically express the deliverance worked by the Lord” the Pope explained, “after the night of death, comes the dawn of a new day. This is why Christian tradition regards this Psalm as a song of Easter.” The feelings of the Psalmist who continues to speak to the Lord, “swing constantly from the terrible memory of the passed nightmare and the joy of deliverance”: the danger experienced still makes him tremble, the memory of suffering is still acute, the tears have only just stopped but now the new day has dawned. “The Psalm shows us that we must never let ourselves be ensnared by the obscure tangle of desperation, when all seems lost. However, neither must we allow ourselves fall into the illusion that we can save ourselves with our own resources.”
“After confessing the temptation of pride experienced in the time of prosperity, the Psalmist recalls the trial which followed... and how he cried out to the Lord”. The Old Testament expressed intense human desire for God to triumph over death and referred many cases in which this victory was won... “However those victories were not lasting. Sooner or later death always conquered. The aspiration for victory nevertheless, despite everything, remained always and in the end became hope in the resurrection. The achievement of this powerful aspiration has been fully guaranteed by the resurrection of Christ, for which we can never offer enough thanks to God.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 12/5/2004 - Righe 22; Parole 312)
