Never despair when all seems lost, Pope teaches

Vatican City, May 11, 2004 / 22:00 pm

Give thanks to God "who has freed us from the fear of death,” declared the Holy Father in this morning’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the subject of which was Psalm 29.

“The night of death has passed and the dawn of a new day breaks. Christian tradition has therefore read this psalm as a paschal hymn. The psalmist repeatedly addresses the Lord in order to announce that he will praise Him as well as to recall the cry to Him in the time of trial and his liberating intervention, and to invoke once again His mercy."

"Emotions," commented the Pope, "vacillate between terrible memories of the trial and the joy of liberation. The vision of life which continues has overshadowed death."

The psalm "teaches us that we must never be ensnared into the dark confusion of despair when everything seems to be lost,” said the Pope. And on the other hand “we also cannot fall into the trap of believing that we can save ourselves on our own, with our own resources. The psalmist is tempted by pride and self-sufficiency 'I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved'. The Fathers of the Church taught us," he added, "that this is a temptation that comes in times of well-being and they saw a divine call to humility in times of tribulation."

The "aspiration to victory has always continued to be present despite everything, and has become, in the end, a hope for resurrection.  Satisfaction for this powerful aspiration has been fully ensured with Christ's Resurrection which we can never thank God enough for," concluded the Holy Father.