PSALM 86: JERUSALEM, CITY OF PEACE AND UNIVERSAL MOTHER

VATICAN CITY, NOV 13, 2002 (VIS) - Psalm 86, "Jerusalem, the Mother of all peoples," was the focus of Pope John Paul's catechesis during today's weekly general audience held in the Paul VI Hall in the presence of 7,000 pilgrims.

"The hymn to Jerusalem, city of peace and universal mother, which we have just heard sung," began the Pope, "is unfortunately in contrast with the historical moment that the city is living. But the duty of prayer is that of sowing trust and generating hope."
He said that "the psalmist sees in Zion the origin of all peoples. After having declared the primacy of the holy city, not through historical or cultural merits but solely for the love that God shed on it, the Psalm opens precisely with a celebration of this universality that makes brothers of all peoples. Zion is sung as the mother of all mankind and not only of Israel. Such an affirmation is of an extraordinary audacity. The psalmist is aware of this. ... Zion is the mother of all mankind because it is 'the City of God': it is therefore at the heart of God's project."

"The four corners of the earth find themselves related to this mother," continued the Holy Father, who named Egypt in the west, Babylon in the east, Tyre "that personifies the commercial peoples of the north," and Ethiopia representing the deep south. "And Palestine, the central area, is also a daughter of Zion."

"It is evocative," he underlined, "to observe how even the nations considered enemies of Israel go to Jerusalem to be welcomed there, not as strangers but as 'relatives'. ... In Jerusalem, everyone must discover their spiritual roots, feel at home, see themselves as members of the same family, embrace each other as brothers who have returned home."

In conclusion, John Paul II spoke of "the mariological key" in which this Psalm can be read. "Jerusalem was for the psalmist a true 'metropolis', that is, a 'mother-city', in which the Lord Himself was present. In this light Christianity sings of Mary as the living Zion, in whose womb the Incarnate Word was generated and as a consequence the Children of God were regenerated."

Following today's audience, the Pope went to the Square of Roman Protomartyrs and blessed a statue of St. Maria Soledad Torres Acosta, foundress of the Servants of Mary, Help of the Sick.

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