Vatican City, Jun 14, 2005 / 22:00 pm
During today's general audience, held this morning in a rain-soaked St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict XVI recalled that God does not remain indifferent to the cry of His people, neither does He disappoint their hope.
The Holy Father spoke to the 32,000 people who had gathered to hear him on the subject of Psalm 122--"Our trust is in the Lord"--and explained that this psalm describes "the faithful who raises his eyes to the Lord and awaits a divine response, in order to see a loving gesture, a benevolent gaze. The psalmist uses an image, that of the servant and the slave girl looking to the hand of their master, awaiting a liberating decision."
The Holy Father continued: "The psalm is a plea in which the voice of one member of the faithful joins that of the entire community. The hope is expressed that the hands of the Lord will open to scatter forth gifts of justice and freedom."
Pope Benedict highlighted the importance of God's loving gaze, which appears in the second half of the psalm, "characterized by the cry: 'Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us!' This is a continuation of the end of the first part of the psalm, which emphasizes the idea of awaiting confidently: 'till He shows mercy upon us’.”