GENERAL AUDIENCE: THE GOOD SHEPHERD, GOD ALMIGHTY

VATICAN CITY, NOV 20, 2002 (VIS) - In this Wednesday's general audience celebrated in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father continued with the cycle of catecheses on the psalms, speaking about the Canticle of Isaiah: "The good shepherd: God Almighty and All-knowing."

John Paul II affirmed that at the beginning of the Canticle "the powerful figure of God appears, He who returns to Jerusalem proceeded by His trophies," which are the "exiled Jews whom He has delivered from the hand of their conquerors. Therefore, God is described as a 'shepherd'" who takes care of His flock."

Later in the Canticle a reflection is offered on "the role of the Lord as Creator of the Universe. ... No one is capable of measuring the immensity of the universe created by God. The prophet makes us realize how ridiculously inadequate human tools are for this task."

The Pope indicated that the prophet Isaiah outlines the "supremacy of the Lord over history, that is, over nations, over the humanity that inhabits the earth. The inhabitants of known lands and also remote regions, which the Bible calls far-flung 'islands', are a microscopic reality in comparison with the Lord's infinite grandeur."

"The faithful are invited, therefore, from the beginning of the day to adore the Lord, all-powerful." In conclusion, the Pope noted that St. Jerome "is taken aback at a surprising truth: that Christ 'is divine in nature ... yet He shed Himself, assuming the place of a servant, becoming like man'. That infinite and omnipotent God became small and limited."

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