GENERAL AUDIENCE: PSALM 91, HYMN OF PRAISE TO THE CREATOR

VATICAN CITY, JUN 12, 2002 (VIS) - In today's general audience which was held in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father spoke about Psalm 91, "a hymn," he said, "raised to the eternal and glorious Lord ... on the eve of the holy sabbath day of prayer, of contemplation, of serene peace in body and spirit."

The Pope explained that "at the center of the Psalm stands the figure of God Most High, solemn and generous; around Him a harmonious and peaceful world takes shape." This hymn comprises "an intense call to praise, to the joyful song of thanksgiving, to the happiness of music. ... The love and faithfulness of the Lord must be celebrated by the song of the liturgy, which has to be interpreted 'artistically'."

The Psalm, he went on, contrasts the wicked with the righteous. The former, "are faced with the Lord" while, "unlike the wicked who are like the grass of the fields, abundant but ephemeral, the righteous reach up to the sky, solid and majestic, like the palm and the cedar of Lebanon." The righteous "have a solid and stable affiliation with the temple and, consequently, with the Lord who has established His dwelling there."

John Paul II concluded by affirming that Psalm 91 "celebrates faith in God which is the source of serenity and peace, even when faced with the apparent success of the wicked. A peace that remains intact even in old age, a period in which fruitfulness and security may still be experienced."

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