GENERAL AUDIENCE: LET ALL PEOPLE GLORIFY GOD

VATICAN CITY, OCT 9, 2002 - "Psalm 66: Let all people glorify the Lord" was the theme of the Pope's catechesis during this Wednesday's general audience, celebrated in St. Peter's Square.

John Paul II indicated that in Psalm 66 "the universal choir of nations is invited to join the praise that Israel raises in the temple of Sion. ... Even those who do not belong to God's chosen people's receive a vocation from Him. The 'way' is the divine plan of salvation, the kingdom of light and peace in which pagans, who are invited to listen to Yahweh's voice, are also included."

"At the beginning and at the end of the Psalm," he said, "the desire to receive divine blessing is expressed resolutely. ... This blessing on Israel will be like a seed of grace and salvation that will be sown throughout the lands of the entire world and in all of history, called to grow and become a tree."

The Holy Father recalled that "in biblical tradition the gift of life, of fecundity and fertility is one of the effects that are experienced during divine blessing. In our psalm an explicit reference is made to this specific reality, precious for life: 'The earth has given its fruit'." Some Fathers of the Church, such as Origen, he continued, apply this phrase "to the Virgin Mary and to the Eucharist, that is, to Christ Who comes from the flower of the Virgin and becomes fruit for nourishment."

St. Augustine, concluded the Pope, "identifies the fruit that sprouts on earth with the transformation that is produced in human beings thanks to the coming of Christ, one of conversion and a fruit of praise to God."

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