VATICAN CITY, FEB 26, 2003 (VIS) - The catechesis of today's general audience in the Paul VI Hall in the presence of 6,500 pilgrims, was dedicated to Psalm 150, which Pope John Paul called "a text of marvelous simplicity and transparency." He said "we must only let ourselves be drawn by its insistent appeal to praise the Lord."
He noted that the Psalm asks us to praise God "in His sanctuary" and "in His mighty firmament." God is thus both "far from our horizon" and yet "close to us. ... Between heaven and earth, therefore, is almost established a channel of communication in which the action of the Lord and the hymn of praise of the faithful meet. The liturgy unites two shrines, the earthly temple and infinite heaven, God and man, time and eternity."
"It is necessary," the Pope affirmed, "to discover and constantly live the beauty of prayer and the liturgy. We must pray to God not only with theologically exact formulas, but also in a beautiful and dignified way.
"In this regard, the Christian community must examine its conscience so that the beauty of music and song return even more to liturgy. We must purify worship from an aberration of styles, of careless forms of expression, of slipshod music and texts that are barely in harmony with the greatness of the act we celebrate."
John Paul II said that "Psalm 150 is a festive hymn, a great 'alleluia' sung to the Lord. Every living being is invited to join in the song of praise. All men and women are called to sing a hymn of gratitude to the Creator for the gift of their existence."
The Pope remarked that "St. Augustine sees the various musical instruments as symbols representing the saints: God's holy people are the trumpets, the cymbals, the tympani, the strings, the flutes, all the instruments that produce a harmony of beautiful sounds. Every spirit that praises God is a voice raised in song: this is the music most pleasing to our Creator."
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