Vatican City, Nov 15, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The continued presence of God with His people throughout history was the major theme of Pope Benedict XVI’s weekly Wednesday audience, held earlier today at the Vatican.
22,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear the Holy Father as he continued his ongoing catechesis on the psalms--today speaking on the latter half of Psalm 135, which he called, “thanksgiving for God’s salvation.”Benedict first recalled that the first part of the psalm proclaims "faith in God the Creator, Who reveals Himself through His works of creation," while the second half leads us to "the presence of God ... in the history of salvation."
The Pope pointed out that God’s presence with his people, Israel, is particularly made manifest in the events of the exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the journey through the desert.
"Desert and sea," said the Pope, "represent the passage through evil and oppression to receive the gift of freedom and of the promised land."He said that during the future time of humiliation - trials and oppression which would later befall the people- “Israel would always encounter the saving hand of the God of freedom and love.