Thursday, March 07, 2002 2:23 PM

They cheer and sing for joy

Two items of news from Italy. In an interesting report from the Zenit news agency, the Holy Father commented on his succesor:

Vatican sources told ZENIT that, during the visit of the first group of Argentine bishops on Feb. 12, one of the bishops mentioned a cardinal’s name as a “worthy” successor to the Pope. A smiling John Paul II responded: “My successor is not yet a cardinal.”

A second item from BBC news, March 6: Thousands of believers have flocked to the Sicilian city of Messina after a statue of the revered Padre Pio began shedding tears some think are blood. Police have taken a sample of the liquid coming from the two-metre (seven-foot) bronze statue for analysis.

News item link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1858000/1858430.stm

Padre Pio is of course mentioned in the TLIG messages. See: /msg/vass111.html

/msg/vass161.html /msg/vass352.html /msg/vass413.html /msg/vass431.html /msg/vass462.html

The Holy Father’s weekly catechesis, copied below, was read on his behalf due to Pope John Paul suffering from a painful arthritic ailment to his knee. The catechesis speaks about Psalm 64 [65]

Our journey through the Psalms of the Liturgy of the Hours leads us today to a hymn, which captivates us especially by the fascinating spring scene of the last part, a scene full of freshness, ablaze with colors, and replete with joyful voices.

In reality, has a broader structure, the result of the interlacing of two different tones: first of all, the historic subject of the forgiveness of sins and God’s closeness emerges; then there is reference to the cosmic subject of God’s action in the confrontation of seas and mountains and finally the description of spring is developed. In the sunny and arid panorama of the Near East, the fertile rain is the expression of the Lord’s faithfulness toward creation. For the Bible, creation is the venue of humanity and sin is an attempt against the order and perfection of the world. Therefore, conversion and forgiveness restore integrity and harmony to the cosmos.

In the first part of the Psalm we are in the interior of the temple of Sion. The people gather there, with the accumulation of their moral miseries, to invoke deliverance from evil. Once absolution of faults has been obtained, the faithful feel welcomed by God, close to him, ready to be lead to his table and to participate in the celebration of divine intimacy.

The Lord, who rises in the temple, is then represented with a glorious and cosmic profile. In fact, it is said that he is the “hope of all the ends of the earth and of far distant islands. You are robed in power, you set up the mountains by your might. You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves. … Distant peoples stand in awe of your marvels” from the east to the west.

At the heart of this celebration of God the Creator, we find an event that we would like to emphasize. The Lord is also able to dominate and silence the tumult of the waters of the sea, which in the Bible are the symbol of chaos, opposed to the order of creation. This is a way of exalting the divine victory not only over nothingness, but also over evil. For this reason, to “the roaring of the seas” and to the “roaring of their waves” is also associated “the tumult of the peoples”, namely, the rebellion of the proud.

St. Augustine comments on this effectively: “The sea is the figure of the present world: bitter with saltiness, disturbed by tempests, where men with their perverse and disordered appetites, become like fish that devour one another at will. Look at this tempestuous sea, this bitter sea, cruel with its waves! Let us not behave like this, brothers, because the Lord is the hope of all the ends of the earth”.

The conclusion suggested by this Psalm is simple: that God, who puts an end to the chaos and evil of the world and of history, can defeat and forgive the malice and sin that the man of prayer bears within and presents in the temple, with the certainty of divine purification.

At this point, other waters enter the scene: those of life and fertility, that in spring irrigate the earth and, ideally, represent the new life of the forgiven faithful. The last verses of the Psalm, as I was saying, are of great beauty and meaning. God quenches the earth cracked by aridity and the winter ice, by giving it rain. The Lord is like a farmer, who makes the grain grow and the grass sprout with his labor. He prepares the earth, irrigates the furrows, levels the clods, waters every part of his field.

The Psalmist uses 10 verbs to describe this loving action of the Creator on the earth, which is transformed into a sort of living creature. Indeed, “they cheer and sing for joy”. Thought-provoking in this connection are also the three verbs linked to the symbol of clothing: “the hills are robed with joy. The pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys blanketed with grain”. The image is that of a grassland dotted with the candor of the sheep; the hills gird themselves perhaps with vines, sign of exultation in their product, wine, “to gladden our hearts”; the valleys put on the golden mantle of the harvest. Verse 12 also evokes the crown, which perhaps makes one think of the wreaths of festive banquets, placed on the heads of the guests.

All the creatures together, almost as in a procession, turn to their Creator and Sovereign, dancing and singing, praising and praying. Once again nature becomes an eloquent sign of the divine action. It is a page that is open to all, ready to manifest the message traced in it be the Creator, because “from the greatness and beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen”. Theological contemplation and poetic abandon merge in this lyric and become adoration and praise.

However, the most intense meeting to which the Psalmist looks forward with all his song is that which unites creation and redemption. As the earth revives in spring by the action of the Creator, so man rises from his sin by the action of the Redeemer. Creation and history are thus under the provident and salvific gaze of the Lord, who conquers the roaring and destructive waters and gives the water that purifies, fertilizes and quenches. Indeed, the Lord “heals the brokenhearted, binds up their wounds,” but also “covers the heavens with clouds, provides rain for the earth, makes grass sprout on the mountains”.

The Psalm thus becomes a song to divine grace. Commenting on our Psalm, St. Augustine reminds us again of this transcendent and unique gift: “The Lord God says to you in your heart: I am your wealth. Do not go after what the world promises, but after what the Creator of the world promises! Pay attention to that which God promises, if you will observe justice; and disdain what is promised to you by man to remove you from justice. Hence, do not go after what the world promises you. Rather, consider that which the Creator of the world promises”.