{"id":48508,"date":"2020-10-21T10:26:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T14:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/?p=48508"},"modified":"2020-10-21T10:26:44","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T14:26:44","slug":"pope-at-audience-psalms-lead-to-adore-god-and-love-his-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/popeswords\/pope-at-audience-psalms-lead-to-adore-god-and-love-his-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope at audience: psalms lead to adore God and love His children"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pope Francis at the General Audience of Oct. 21, 2020, at the Paul VI audience hall. (Vatican Media)<\/p><\/div>\n

October 21, 2020<\/em><\/p>\n

In his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis concludes his reflection on the Psalms in the series of catechesis on prayer. He says the psalms allow us to “contemplate reality with God\u2019s very eyes”.<\/h3>\n
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By Vatican News staff writer<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Pope Francis began Wednesday\u2019s General taking into account the rising numbers of Covid-19 infections worldwide, including in Italy.\u00a0 Even though he would like to come close to those attending the audience, he cannot do so because of the danger of contagion for all. \u201cI am sorry to do this but it is for your safety,\u201d he said. Hence instead of shaking hands, he suggested to those present that they greet each other at a distance, but assured they were close to his heart.<\/p>\n

The Pope then said his attention had been caught during the reading of the Bible passage at the start of the catechesis by a mother in the crowd who was cuddling her crying child. He said, \u201cthis is what God does with us, like that mamma.” These beautiful images of a mother’s tenderness, the Pope said, are the image of the Church, the symbol of God’s tenderness for us. Hence, he said, \u201cNever silence a crying baby in Church, never, because it is the voice that attracts God’s tenderness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Francis then began the second and final catechesis on the Psalms in his series on prayer.\u00a0 The Psalms, he says, \u201chelp us not to fall into the temptation of the ‘wicked’, that is, of living, and perhaps also of praying, as if God does not exist, and as if the poor do not exist\u201d.<\/p>\n

Seeing reality with God\u2019s eyes<\/b><\/h4>\n

Instead, the Pope explains, the prayer of the Psalms are a fundamental reality of life, because the reference to the absolute, the transcendent, which the spiritual masters call the \u201choly fear of God\u201d,\u00a0 makes us completely human.\u00a0 Prayer, he says, prevents us from venturing into life in a “predatory and voracious manner.”<\/p>\n

However, the Pope warns against “false prayer” which calls for the admiration of others or to show off the latest fashion, which Jesus Himself admonishes against. Rather, the true spirit of prayer in the heart \u201callows us to contemplate reality with God\u2019s very eyes\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Pope also warns against tiring and rote prayer like a parrot.\u00a0 Rather, prayer should be the centre of life, from the heart.\u00a0 \u201cIf there is prayer, even a brother, a sister, even an enemy, becomes important,\u201d he says, adding, \u201cthose who adore God, love His children. Those who respect God, respect human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prayer, the Holy Father continued, should not be regarded as a “sedative that alleviates life\u2019s anxieties”, which is not a Christian form of prayer. \u201cRather, prayer makes each of us responsible,\u201d as we see in the \u201cOur Father\u201d that Jesus taught His disciples.<\/p>\n

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Prayer holds temple and world together<\/b><\/h4>\n

The psalter, the Pope notes, often “bring out the scars of existence.”\u00a0 Yet these prayers, even the most intimate and personal ones, were first used in the Temple, and then in the synagogues.\u00a0 The\u00a0Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/i>\u00a0says that the Psalms \u201ctake shape both in the liturgy of the Temple and in the human heart\u201d (n. 2588). Thus, personal prayer is nourished “first by the prayer of the people of Israel, then by the prayer of the Church.”<\/p>\n

“Even the Psalms in the first person singular,” are a “collective patrimony,” the Pope says, “to the point of being prayed by everyone and for everyone\u201d. \u00a0The prayer of the Christian has the \u201cbreath\u201d and spiritual \u201ctension\u201d of holding the “temple and the world together.”<\/p>\n

\u201cPrayer,\u201d Pope Francis explains, \u201ccan begin in the penumbra of a church\u2019s nave, but can come to an end on the city streets.\u201d \u201cAnd vice versa, it can blossom during the day\u2019s activities and reach its fulfilment in the liturgy.\u201d\u00a0 Thus, he says, the church doors let everyone\u2019s groans in.<\/p>\n

Hence, the Pope stresses, the world is always present in the prayer of the psalms. They assure the divine promise of salvation for the weakest, warn against the danger of worldly riches or open the horizon to God\u2019s view of history.<\/p>\n

Love of God and neighbour<\/b><\/h4>\n

\u201cIn short,\u201d the Pope says, \u201cwhere there is God, the human person must be there as well.\u201d This is not because “we love, but because He first loved us”.\u00a0 Pope Francis quotes 1 John who says “if anyone claims he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar, for if one does not love his brother whom he or she has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”<\/p>\n

The Pope further explains that God does not support the \u201catheism\u201d of those who repudiate the divine image that is “imprinted in every human being.”\u00a0 Believing in God while distancing others and hating them, the Pope said, is practical atheism. “It is a sacrilege, an abomination, the worst offense that can be directed toward the temple and the altar.”<\/p>\n

Pope Francis concludes his catechesis saying the Psalms prevent us from falling into the temptation of \u201cliving, and perhaps also of praying, as if God does not exist, and as if the poor do not exist\u201d.<\/p>\n