VATICAN - The Pope’s teaching at weekly audience: “God is the only good and so the Psalmist sets himself in the community of those who are faithful to the Lord.”

Vatican City (Fides) - This morning in his weekly audience at the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican, having travelled by car from his Summer residence in Castel Gandolfo to keep the Wednesday appointment with the general public, Pope John Paul II reflected on Psalm 15 (16) “God is the supreme good” ( first vespers Sunday of week 2, reading: Ps 15,1-2.5.9-11). “Despite the difficult text in the original Hebrew especially in the first verses, Psalm 15 is a luminous mystical canticle- the Pope said in his address -, as we see from the profession of faith at the beginning: «My Lord are you, apart from you I have no good». God therefore is seen as the only good and so the Psalmist sets himself in the community of those who are faithful to the Lord.”
The Psalm develops two themes expressed through symbols: inheritance and perfect and endless communion with the Lord. When he says «The Lord is my allotted portion… fair to me indeed is my inheritance » “the Psalmist gives the impression that he is a priest proclaiming the joy of being totally dedicated to God’s service”. He expresses “the firm hope of being saved from death to be close to the Lord for ever”. Another symbol of this Psalm is the path: “the path which leads to «fullness of joy in your presence» and «the delights at your right hand forever» These words can serve for a broader interpretation of hope for eternal communion with God, after death. At this point it is easy to see why the Psalm was assumed by the New Testament with regard to the resurrection of Christ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 28/7/2004 - Righe 19; Parole 271)