God Will Never Abandon Us

Ragister summary

Pope John Paul II held his first general audience of the new year on Jan. 8 for some 3,000 pilgrims from around the world. He resumed his teachings on the psalms and canticles of the Liturgy of the Hours with a meditation on Psalm 100.

The Holy Father told the pilgrims that Psalm 100 is “a joyful invitation to praise the Lord” that highlights the loving relationship that exists between God and his people. Even though the psalm is short, it contains seven commands to orient the faithful as they worship God, including invitations to come before him, to enter his gates with praise and to give him thanks. “When we pray, we should feel like we are in tune with all those who pray, exalting the Lord in different languages and ways,” the Pope noted.

Ultimately the psalm is a profession of faith, he said, in which we proclaim that the Lord is good and will never abandon us. “He is always ready to sustain us with his merciful love,” the Holy Father said. Therefore, we can yield to his embrace with confidence.

In the atmosphere of joy and celebration that pervades this last week of the Christmas season, we wish to resume our meditations on the morning prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. Today we will dwell on Psalm 100, which is a joyful invitation to praise the Lord, who is the shepherd of his people.

Seven commands are articulated throughout this work, which urge the community of the faithful to celebrate in worship the God of love and the God of the covenant: shout, worship, come before him, know, enter the gates, give thanks, bless. It is reminiscent of a liturgical procession that is about to enter the Temple of Zion for a worship service in honor of the Lord (see Psalms 15; 24; 95).

A Loving Relationship

Words that are commonly used to exalt the covenant relationship that exists between God and Israel are interspersed throughout the psalm. First of all, the fact that we fully belong to God emerges: “to whom we belong, whose people we are” (Psalm 100:3). This affirmation is permeated with pride and, at the same time, with humility, since Israel sees itself as “God's well-tended flock” (Psalm 100:3). In other passages, we see that the corresponding relationship is expressed: “For this is our God” (see Psalm 95:7). Later we find a lexicon that expresses this relationship of love, where merciful “love” and “faithfulness” are united with “goodness” (see Psalm 100:5) — words which, in the Hebrew original, are precisely formulated with terms that are characteristic of the pact that binds Israel to its God.

Coordinates of space and time are also reviewed. On one hand, in fact, the whole earth appears before our eyes and all of its inhabitants are praising God (see verse 2); later the perspective is reduced to the sacred area of the Temple of Jerusalem with its courts and gates (see verse 4), where the community is gathered in prayer. On the other hand, reference is made to time within its three basic dimensions: to the past with creation (“our maker,” verse 3); to the present with the covenant and worship (“whose people we are, God's well-tended flock,” verse 3); and, finally, to the future in which the Lord's merciful faithfulness will last “through every age” and will endure “forever” (verse 5).

Let us now reflect briefly on the seven commands that make up this long invitation to praise God and that take up almost the entire psalm (see verses 2–4) before achieving their goal in the last verse, which is to exalt God, whose deep and intimate nature we contemplate.

Worship the Lord

The first call is to a festive acclamation in which the whole earth sings praise to its Creator. When we pray, we should feel like we are in tune with all those who pray, exalting the one Lord in different languages and ways. “For,” as the prophet Malachi says, “from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name is great among the nations; and everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name and a pure offering; for great is my name among the nations, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 1:11).

Afterward there are some appeals of a liturgical and ritual nature: to “worship,” to “come before him” and to “enter the Temple gates.” These verbs, which also allude to royal audiences, describe the various acts that the faithful fulfill when they enter the Temple of Zion in order to take part in the prayer of the community. After the cosmic song, God's people, his “well-tended flock” and his “special possession” (Exodus 19:5), celebrate the liturgy.

The invitation to “enter the gates with praise” and “with thanksgiving” reminds us of a passage from St. Ambrose's De Mysteriis, which describes those who are baptized as they approach the altar: “The people, who have been purified, draw near to the altars of Christ, saying: ‘I will go to the altar of God, to God the joy of my youth’ (Psalm 43:4). Indeed, abandoning the spoils of inveterate error, the people, who have been renewed in their youth as an eagle, hasten to participate in this heavenly banquet. They come, then, and seeing the sacrosanct altar appropriately prepared, exclaim: ‘The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me; you restore my strength’” (Psalm 23:1–2). (Opere Dogmatiche III, SAEMO 17, p. 158–159).

Bless His Holy Name

The other commands that are scattered throughout this psalm once again suggest some basic spiritual attitudes that characterize a person of prayer: know, give thanks, bless. The verb “know” expresses the essence of our profession of faith in one God. In fact, we must proclaim that only “the Lord is God” (Psalm 100:3) and fight against every form of idolatry and every form of human pride and power that is opposed to him.

The object of other verbs, “give thanks” and “bless,” is also “the name” and the person of the Lord (see verse 4) and his effective and saving presence.

When read in this light, this psalm ultimately leads us to solemnly exalt God and becomes a kind of profession of faith: The Lord is good and his faithfulness never abandons us because he is always ready to sustain us with his merciful love. With this confidence, the psalmist yields to God's embrace: “Learn to savor how good the Lord is,” the psalmist says elsewhere. “Happy are those who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:9; see 1 Peter 2:3). (Register translation)