1. As you heard from the lectors, this encounter was opened by the "Great Hallel," Psalm 136 (135), which is a solemn litany for soloist and choir: it is raised to the "hesed" of God, that is, to his faithful love as revealed in the events of salvation history. In particular it refers to the liberation from slavery in Egypt and to the gift of the promised land. The Creed of God's Israel (cf Dt 26:5-9; Gen 24: 1-13) proclaims divine action within human history: the Lord is not an impassable emperor, encircled in light and relegated to a gilded heaven. He sees the misery of his people in Egypt, listens to their cry and comes down to liberate them (cf Ex 3:7-8).

2. We will now seek to illustrate this presence of God in history, by the light of Trinitarian revelation, which was fully realized in the New Testament, and which was in some ways anticipated and concealed in the Old Testament. Let us begin, then, with the Father, whose characteristics can be glimpsed in God's intervening action in history as a father who is tender and thoughtful towards the just ones who call to nim. He is "Father of orphans and Protector of widows" (Ps 68:5); He is also a father in confronting a rebellious and sinful people.

    Two prophetic texts of extraordinary beauty and intensity introduce God's delicate interior dialogue in dealing with his "degenerate children" (Dt 32:5). God manifests his constant and amorous presence in the tangle of human history. In Jeremiah the Lord exclaims: "For I have become a father to Israel... Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he the child I delight in? As often as I speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore I am deeply moved for him; I will surely have mercy on him" (Jer 31:9,20). Another of God's marvelous confessions is found in Hosea: "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son... it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them... My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender" (Hos 11:1,3-4,8).

3. From these biblical passages we must draw the conclusion that God the Father is not the least bit indifferent in the face of our events. On the contrary, he goes as far as sending His only -begotten Son into the heart of history, as Christ himself attests in his nocturnal dialogue with Nicodemus: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:16-17). The son is inserted into time and space as living and life-giving center that gives definitive sense to the flow of history, saving it from dispersion and banality. In particular, all of humanity converges with its joys and tears, with its troubled succession of good and evil, on Christ's cross, the wellspring of salvation and of eternal life: "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself" (John 12:32). With a resplendent phrase, the Letter to the Hebrews will proclaim the perennial presence of Christ in history: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (13:8).

4. In order to discover beneath the ebb and flow of events this secret and effective presence, to sense that the Kingdom of God is even now in our midst (cf Lk 17:21), it is necessary to go beyond the superficialities of data and of historical occurrences. Here, the Holy Spirit goes into action. Even if the Old Testament did not yet present an explicit revelation of the person of the Holy Spirit, certain salvific initiatives can be "appropriated" to him. It is he who moves the judges of Israel (cf Jud 3:10), David (cf 1 Sam 16:13), and the Messiah-King (cf Is 11:1-2; 42:1). But above all he spreads out through the prophets, who have the mission to reveal the divine glory veiled in history, the design of God underneath our events. The prophet Isaiah presents us with a text of great efficacy, which will be taken up again by Christ in his programmatic discourse in the synagogue of Nazareth: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Is 61:1-2; Lk 4:18-19).

5. The Spirit of God not only unveils the sense of history, but imparts the strength to collaborate in the divine project that is accomplished in it. By the light of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, history ceases to be a succession of events dissolved in the chasm of the dead, but becomes fertile ground for the seeds of eternity, a path that brings us to that sublime destination in which "God may be all in all" (1Cor 15:28). The Jubilee Year of 2000, which evokes "the year of mercy" announced by Isaiah and inaugurated by Christ, is meant to be the epiphany of those seeds and of this glory so that all may hope, sustained by the presence and the help of God, in a new, more authentically Christian and human world.

    Each of us then, in stammering something of the mystery of the Trinity working in our history, is faced with the adoring wonder of St. Gregory Nazianzen, theologian and poet, when he sings: "Glory to God the Father and to the Son, King of the universe. Glory to the Spirit, worthy of praise and all holy. The Trinity is one God who created and fills everything... giving life to everything with his Spirit, so that each creature exalts his wise Creator, single cause of life and endurance. More than anything else, a reasonable creature always celebrates him as great King and good Father" (Dogmatic Poems, XXI, "Hymnus Alias": PG 37:510-511). (ZENIT Translation) ZE00020923 1. Today Italy celebrates "Life Day", which has "Unto us a Child is Given" as its theme; an echo of the oracle of the prophet Isaiah (9:5) proclaimed in the Christmas liturgy. In their traditional Message for this Day, the Italian Bishops reminded the faithful that every child is an immense gift: for parents, for the family, for the Church and for society.

    The worrisome demographic decline registered in recent years cannot but be a motive for attentive reflection and a stimulus for renewal in Italian society, both of its mentality and its cultural, political, and legislative choices. It is the task, certainly, of public institutions, which are called to overcome difficulties that place obstacles before the family. But above all it is up to married couples to re-establish a culture of love and life, rediscovering the mission of parenthood assumed on their wedding day.

2. A culture of life is the ideal context not only for welcoming children, but also for respect and attention towards every person, starting with the weakest and most defenseless. In this regard, I am pleased to take advantage this occasion as a reminder that next Friday, February 11, memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Jubilee of the Sick and Health-Care Workers will be celebrated.

    This special Jubilee celebration sheds light upon the importance of human life in the plan of Redemption: Christ used the curing of the sick as a privileged sign of the Kingdom of God; and by his Passion and Death, he -- the Good Samaritan of humanity -- redeemed us from sin, to give us the gift of health of spirit and body. Following in his footsteps, the Church has drawn close to suffering men and women in every place and at all times by means of innumerable works for the good of the sick, especially the poorest and the abandoned.

    In preparation for the Jubilee of the Sick, a meeting will take place in the Vatican this Wednesday and Thursday to study the identity of Catholic health professionals, and the challenges that face them at the beginning of the third millennium. On Thursday a Holy Mass will be celebrated for the sick in the Basilica Saint Paul Outside the Walls, whereas I myself will preside the one held on Friday the 11th here at St. Peter's. Finally, on Saturday, there will be a Stations of the Cross at the Coliseum and, in the evening, a festive gathering in Paul VI Audience Hall.