Subject: VISnews 110907
Organization: VIS - Ufficio Stampa della Santa Sede
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
TWENTY FIRST YEAR - N. 148
ENGLISH
WEDNESDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2011
SUMMARY:
- Dialectic of Prayer: Human Cry and Divine Response
- The Pope Recalls Cardinal Deskur
- Audiences
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DIALECTIC OF PRAYER: HUMAN CRY AND DIVINE RESPONSE
VATICAN CITY, 7 SEP 2011 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI travelled by
helicopter from the Apostolic Palace in Castelgandolfo to the Vatican for
his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.
Continuing a series of catecheses on the subject of "the school of
prayer", the Holy Father turned his attention to Psalm 3 which recounts
David's flight from Jerusalem when Absalom rose against him. "In the
Psalmist's lament", the Pope said, "each of us may recognise those feelings
of pain and bitterness, accompanied by faith in God, which, according the
biblical narrative, David experienced as he fled from his city".
In the Psalm, the king's enemies are many and powerful, and the imbalance
between David's forces and those of his persecutors "justifies the urgency
of his cry for help". Nonetheless his adversaries "also seek to break his
bond with God and to undermine the faith of their victim by insinuating that
the Lord cannot intervene". Thus, the aggression "is not only physical, it
also has a spiritual dimension" aimed at "the central core of the Psalmist's
being. This is the extreme temptation a believer suffers: the temptation of
losing faith and trust in the closeness of God", the Holy Father said.
Yet, as the Book of Wisdom says, the unrighteous are mistaken because "the
Lord ... is like a shield protecting those who entrust themselves to Him. He
causes them to raise their heads in sign of victory. Man is no longer alone
... because the Lord hears the cry of the oppressed. ... This intertwining
of human cry and divide response is the dialectic of prayer and the key to
reading the entire history of salvation. A cry expresses a need for help and
appeals to the faithfulness of the other. To cry out is an act of faith in
God's closeness and His willingness to listen. Prayer express the certainty
of a divine presence which has already been experienced and believed, and
which is fully manifested in the salvific response of God".
Psalm 3 presents us "a supplication replete with faith and consolation. By
praying this Psalm we share the sentiments of the Psalmist: a just but
persecuted figure which would later be fulfilled in Jesus. In pain, danger
and the bitterness of misunderstanding and offence, the words of this Psalm
open our hearts to the comforting certainty of faith. God is always close,
even in times of difficulty, problems and darkness. He listens, responds and
saves.
"However", the Pope added, "it is important to be able to recognise His
presence and to accept His ways: like David during his humiliating flight
from his son Absalom, like the persecuted righteous of the Book of Wisdom
and, finally and fully, like the Lord Jesus on Golgotha. In the eyes of the
unrighteous it appeared that God did not intervene and that His Son died,
but for believers it was at that precise moment that true glory was
manifested and definitive salvation achieved".
The Pope concluded: "May the Lord give us faith, may He come in aid of our
weakness and help us to pray in moments of anguish, in the painful nights of
doubt and the long days of pain, abandoning ourselves trustingly to Him, our
shield and our glory".
AG/ VIS
20110907 (550)
THE POPE RECALLS CARDINAL DESKUR
VATICAN CITY, 7 SEP 2011 (VIS) - At the end of his catechesis today,
Benedict XVI addressed greetings to a number of groups present at the
general audience. Speaking to Polish pilgrims, he mentioned the recently
deceased Cardinal Deskur. "During yesterday's funeral", he said, "we bid our
final farewell to Cardinal Andrei Maria Deskur, a friend of Blessed John
Paul II and your countryman. His service to the Pope was sustained with
prayer and suffering, and he entrusted his own life to Mary Immaculate. May
she implore heavenly glory for him".
Finally, speaking Italian, he greeted young people, the sick and newlywed
couples. "Returning from the holidays to your daily activities", he told the
young, "be sure to find time every day for your dialogue with God, and
spread His light and peace around you. Dear sick people, find comfort in the
Lord Jesus Who continues His work of redemption in the lives of all men and
women. Dear newlyweds, learn to pray together in the intimacy of home life
so that your love may become increasingly authentic, fruitful and lasting".
AG/ VIS
20110907 (190)
AUDIENCES
VATICAN CITY, 7 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Following today's general audience, the
Holy Father received Michael Spindelegger, vice chancellor and foreign
minister of Austria, accompanied by his wife and an entourage.
AP/ VIS
20110907 (40)
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