Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - Part one of psalm 135 as it is divided in the liturgy of Vespers is called «the great Hallel», that is the great and solemn praise sung by Judaism during the paschal liturgy. Dwelling in particular on the refrain - «Eternal is his mercy » - the Holy Father explained during the General Audience this morning that the word mercy “is a legitimate but limited translation of the original Hebrew word hesed which is part of the characteristic language used by the Bible to express the covenant between the Lord and his people … In this relationship, God does not appear in the Bible as an immovable and implacable sovereign or an obscure and indecipherable being, similar to fate, against whose mysterious power it is useless to fight. He reveals himself instead as a person who loves his creatures, watches over them and follows their progress in history and suffers the acts of infidelity with which the people often oppose his hesed, his merciful and paternal love.”
According to the psalmist, “the first visible sign of this divine love is found in creation … even before discovering God who reveals himself in the history of a people, there is a cosmic revelation open to all, offered to all humanity by the one Creator of all” the Holy Father explained. “There exists, therefore, a divine message, secretly inscribed in creation and a sign of the hesed, or loving fidelity of God who gives his creatures being and life, water and food, light and time”. Contemplation of God’s works in creation leads us to praise and thank the Lord. The Pope ended his address referring to St Basil the Great’s first homily on Esamerone in which he comments the story of creation, “he stops to consider the wisdom of God’s work and comes to recognise divine goodness as the centre of propulsion of all creation”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 9/11/2005, righe 21, parole 323)
