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Pope Benedict XVI- Audiences |
General Audience
“Praise the name of the Lord”
H.H. Benedict XVI
May 18, 2005
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Before entering
into a brief interpretation of the Psalm just sung, I would like to
remind you that today is the birthday of our beloved Pope John Paul
II, who would have been 85 years old. We are certain that he sees us
from heaven and is with us. On this occasion we want to tell the
Lord a heartfelt "thank you" for the gift of this Pope and to say
"thank you" to the Pope himself for all that he did and suffered.
1. We have just
heard, in its simplicity and beauty, Psalm 113[112], a true
introduction into a small group of Psalms that go from 113[112] to
118[117], commonly known as the "Egyptian Hallel". It is the
Alleluia, or song of praise, that exalts the liberation from
Pharaoh's slavery and the joy of Israel to serve the Lord freely in
the Promised Land (cf. Ps 114[113]).
The Jewish
tradition intentionally connected this series of Psalms to the
Paschal liturgy. The celebration of that event, according to its
historical-social and, more especially, spiritual dimensions, was
perceived as a sign of liberation from the multifaceted forms of
evil.
Psalm 113[112] is a
brief hymn that in its original Hebrew consists of only 60 or so
words, all imbued with sentiments of trust, praise and joy.
2. The first
strophe (cf. Ps 113[112]: 1-3) praises "the name of the Lord" who,
as is known, indicates in Biblical language the person of God
himself, his presence, living and working in human history.
Three times, with
impassioned insistence, the "name of the Lord" resounds at the
centre of the prayer of adoration. All being and all time - "from
the rising of the sun to its setting", as the Psalmist says (v. 3) -
are involved in a single action of grace. It is as if a ceaseless
breath were rising from earth to heaven to praise the Lord, Creator
of the universe and King of history.
3. Precisely by
means of this ascending movement, the Psalm leads us to the divine
mystery. Indeed, the second part (cf. vv. 4-6) celebrates the Lord's
transcendence, described with vertical images that go beyond the
mere human horizon. It is proclaimed: the Lord is "sublime",
"enthroned on high", and no one is equal; also, to look at the
heavens he must "stoop", since "above the heavens is his glory" (v.
4).
The divine gaze
watches over all realities, over all beings, earthly and heavenly.
However, his eyes are not arrogant and distant, like that of a cold
emperor. The Lord, the Psalmist says, "stoops... to look" (v. 6).
4. In this way, we
pass to the last part of the Psalm (cf. vv. 7-9), which moves the
attention from the heights of the heavens to our earthly horizon.
The Lord attentively stoops down towards our littleness and poverty,
which drives us to withdraw in fear. He looks directly, with his
loving gaze and his real concern, upon the world's lowly and poor:
"From the dust he lifts up the lowly, from his misery he raises the
poor" (v. 7).
God bends down,
therefore, to console the needy and those who suffer; this word
finds its ultimate wealth, its ultimate meaning in the moment in
which God bends over to the point of bending down, of becoming one
of us, one of the world's poor. He bestows the greatest honour on
the poor, that of sitting "in the company of princes, yes, with the
princes of his people" (v. 8). To the abandoned and childless woman,
humiliated by ancient society as if she were a worthless, dead
branch, God gives the honour and the immense joy of many children
(cf. v. 9). And so, the Psalmist praises a God who is very different
from us in his grandeur, but at the same time very close to his
suffering creatures.
It is easy to draw
from these final verses of Psalm 113[112] the prefiguration of the
words of Mary in the Magnificat, the Canticle of God's chosen
one, who "looked with favour on his lowly servant". More radically
than our Psalm, Mary proclaims that God "casts down the mighty from
their thrones and lifts up the lowly" (cf. Lk 1: 48, 52; Ps 113
[112]: 6-8).
5. A very ancient
"Hymn of Vespers", preserved in the so-called Apostolic
Constitutions (VII, 48), takes up once more and develops the
joyful introduction to our Psalm. We recall it here, at the end of
our reflection, to highlight the customary "Christian" re-reading of
the Psalms done by the early community: "Praise the Lord, O
children, praise the name of the Lord. We worship you, we sing to
you, we praise you for your immense glory. Lord King, Father of
Christ, spotless Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. To you
all praise, to you our song, to you the glory, to God the Father
through the Son in the Spirit, for ever and ever.
Amen" (S. Pricoco M. Simonetti, La preghiera dei cristiani,
Milan, 2000, p. 97).
[To special
groups:]
In a special way I
greet the Risho Kosei-kai Buddhist group from Gunmaota, Japan. I
also extend a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims,
particularly those from England, Indonesia, Canada and the United
States of America. I pray that your time in Rome may be filled with
grace and peace. In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I invoke
God's Blessing upon you and your loved ones.
Lastly, I address
you, young people, sick people and newly-weds,
encouraging you all to deepen the pious practice of the Holy Rosary,
especially in this month of May dedicated to the Mother of God. The
Rosary is evangelical prayer, helping us to understand better the
fundamental mysteries of the story of salvation.
We conclude our
meeting by singing the prayer of the Pater Noster.
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