Faithful Invited to Make Life a Hymn of Praise to God

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 9, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Commenting on Psalm 150 at today´s general audience, John Paul II invited all Christians to make their life a hymn of praise to God.

The biblical passage, one of the most cherished in Jewish spiritual tradition, includes 10 imperatives urging exaltation of the greatness and wonders of the Lord, the Holy Father said.

The Pope was continuing the series of meditations that he offered last year on the Psalms and canticles of the Old Testament, the Church´s daily prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours.

As in Handel´s Messiah, "praise of God becomes like the ceaseless breath of the soul," the Holy Father said. "Praise becomes the profession of faith in God the creator and redeemer, a festive celebration of divine love, which is displayed in creation and salvation, giving life and deliverance."

The Psalm urges every living being to praise the Lord. "Although one can think that the whole of life of the created should be a hymn of praise to the Creator, it is more precise, however, to maintain that a position of primacy in this choir is reserved to the human creature," the Pope said.

"Through the human being, spokesman of the whole of creation, all the living praise the Lord," he added. "Our breath of life, which also spells self-consciousness, awareness and liberty, becomes a song and prayer of the whole of life that vibrates in the universe."

This is why we must also become "an incessant prayer before the throne of God," the Holy Father concluded.