God Sides With the Just and Victimized, Says John Paul II

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 10, 2003 (Zenit.org).- God intervenes in history to establish justice, in particular for the defenseless, and this must be our intention in prayer, says John Paul II.

The Pope made this point today at the general audience, when continuing his series of meditations on the hymns that form part of the Church's evening prayer, the liturgy of vespers. He focused on a canticle in Chapter 19 of the Book of Revelation, "The Marriage of the Lamb."

The invocation of the last book of the Bible begins with these words: "Salvation, glory and might belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments."

"At the heart of this joyful invocation is the representation of God's decisive intervention in history," the Pope said to a crowd of some 6,000 pilgrims in Paul VI Hall. "The Lord is not indifferent, as an impassible and isolated emperor, before human vicissitudes."

"As the Psalmist says, 'The Lord's throne is in heaven. God's eyes keep careful watch; they test all peoples,'" he continued, quoting Psalm 11.

"What is more, his look is source of action, because he intervenes and demolishes the arrogant and oppressive empires, he pulls down the proud who defy him, he judges all those who commit evil," the Pope added.

"Above all, therefore, our prayer should invoke and praise the divine action, the Lord's effective justice, his glory obtained with the triumph over evil," he said.

"God makes himself present in history, placing himself on the side of the righteous and victims," the Holy Father said.

John Paul II's meditation concluded with a reflection on the second part of the canticle, centered on the marriage between Christ and the Church, the Lamb and the bride, "in a profound communion of love."

The Pope's other meditations on the Psalms and canticles of vespers may be consulted in the Wednesday's Audience section of ZENIT's Web page.