AUDIENCE: NEW CITY OF GOD, CENTER OF ALL HUMANITY

VATICAN CITY, SEP 4, 2002 (VIS) - This morning John Paul II went from the apostolic palace at Castelgandolfo to the Vatican to welcome the numerous pilgrims present in the traditional Wednesday audience in the Paul VI Hall. Due to the large number of participants, the Pope returned to the Vatican for the audience, although during his vacation time the audiences usually take place in the courtyard of his residence at Castelgandolfo.

The Holy Father's catechesis was dedicated to the Canticle of the prophet Isaiah "who lived during the eighth century B.C.," said the Pope, "and was a witness to the difficult times of the kingdom of Judea, but also a cantor of the messianic hope."

"This hymn," he continued, "is ... an invitation to not be fixated on the present, so miserable, but to realize below the surface of daily events the mysterious presence of divine grace which drives history toward a horizon of light and peace."

Mount Sion, where God lived, explained John Paul II, is the center of the canticle of Isaiah and the people of the earth flocked to him. "This power of attraction is based on ... the Law and the Word of the Lord that constitute ... a unique reality, source of life, light and peace ... When nations arrive at the top of Sion the miracle which humanity has always waited for occurs. ... The people let go of their arms, ... their swords are transformed into plows and their lances into shears."

"The Fathers of the Church," he added, "saw this miracle (happen) with the coming of Christ and as a consequence they identified the 'mount of the Lord's temple' with the Church from which the Word of the Lord emmanated and to which the pagan people came to, in the new age of peace inaugurated by the Gospel."

"For this reason, in a particular way," he concluded, "We Christians are called by the prophet and we try to build a civilization of love and peace in which there is neither war 'nor death, nor tears, nor fatigue, because the old world has passed.'"

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