AUDIENCE: ENCOUNTERING THE LORD REQUIRES A PURE HEART

VATICAN CITY, JUN 20, 2001 (VIS) - The theme of the catechesis in the general audience held today in St. Peter's Square concerned Psalm 23: "The Lord enters His Temple."

The Pope explained that the Psalm contains three fundamental truths: "God created the world and is the Lord thereof; ... we must all appear before Him and be questioned on what we have done; ... (He comes) to establish a relationship of profound communion with men."

This biblical text contains "a brief acclamation of the Creator to Whom the world and all its peoples belong. It is a kind of profession of faith in the Lord of the universe and of history." The Psalmist then explains to believers that the norms for reaching communion with the Lord in worship are "not merely ritual and external" but rather are "like an examination of conscience or a penitential act that precedes the liturgical celebration." The Psalm emphasizes the necessity of maintaining "clean hands and a pure heart, ... sincerity and, above all, the fight against idolatry" and relations with our neighbors that find inspiration in "justice and rectitude."

The Holy Father indicated that, in this way, the "joyful entrance of the faithful into the temple to meet the Lord" becomes possible. He added that "the triumphal scene described by the Psalm" has been used to commemorate Christ's descent into hell and His ascent into heaven, as well as in the liturgy for the opening of the Holy Door when "it enabled us to relive with intense inner emotion the same sentiments felt by the Psalmist in crossing the threshold of the old Temple of Zion."

"God, infinite, omnipotent and eternal," he concluded, "adapts Himself to human beings; He approaches man to meet him, listen to him and enter into communion with him. The liturgy is the expression of this encounter in faith, in dialogue and in love."

AG;PSALM 23;...;...;VIS;20010620;Word: 320;