GENERAL AUDIENCE: THE JOY OF THOSE WHO ENTER THE TEMPLE

VATICAN CITY, NOV 7, 2001 (VIS) - In today's general audience, celebrated in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father spoke on Psalm 99, "The joy of those who enter the temple."

In this hymn of thanksgiving, the Pope said, there is "a pressing call to prayer" expressed with a series of imperatives: "'Make a joyful noise ..., serve the Lord with gladness. ... Know that the Lord is God'. (These are) invitations not only to enter the sacred area of the temple ... but also to praise God joyfully."

"The Psalmist calls the entire earth to praise the Lord. ... The world and history are not in the hands of fate, chaos, or a blind destiny. They are, instead, governed by a mysterious God. ... We are all, therefore, in the hands of God, Lord and King, and we all celebrate this, in the faith that He will not let us fall from His hands as Creator and Father."

John Paul II affirmed that in the Psalm there is also a profession of faith, "expressed through a series of attributes which define the intimate reality of God. ... The Lord is God, the Lord is our Creator."
"After the proclamation of the one God, creator and source of the covenant," there is a meditation on the three virtues of goodness, merciful love, and faithfulness, which "characterize the covenant of God with His people; these express a bond which will never be broken, in spite of the murky river of sins, rebellions, and human infidelities. With serene trust in the divine love that will never diminish, the people of God set out in history with their temptations and daily weaknesses."

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