VATICAN CITY, SEP 25, 2002 (VIS) - In today's general audience, celebrated in St. Peter's Square, the Pope reflected on "Psalm 84: our salvation is close at hand."
The Holy Father explained that Psalm 84 "is a joyful hymn, full of hope in the future for salvation. It marks the glorious moment of Israel's return from exile in Babylon to the land of the fathers. ... Above all, Israel's physical return is celebrated" as well as another "'more interior and spiritual return'."
"In this 'return' the Lord acts effectively, revealing His love while forgiving the iniquity of the people and erasing all sins, while showing His anger and yet putting an end to His ire. It is precisely this delivery from evil, this forgiveness of and purification from sins that create the new people of God."
John Paul II emphasized that "a 'return' must correspond to this 'return' of God, that is, the conversion of man who repents. The psalm declares that peace and salvation are offered to 'he who returns to Him with all his heart'." He who continues on the path to holiness with determination will receive the gifts of joy, freedom and peace."
In the second part of Psalm 84, he concluded, "a new world is described, one in which God's love and fidelity embrace each other as if they were people. ... Mercy, truth, justice and peace become the four cardinal points of this geography of the spirit."
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