JOHN PAUL II The Lord, Creator of the World, protects his people
1. The Canticle of praise we have just recited (Jdt 16,1-7) is
attributed to Judith, a heroine who became the pride of all the
women of Israel, because it was her mission to demonstrate the
liberating power of God at a dark moment in the life of his
people. The Liturgy of Lauds gives us only a few verses to
recite. They invite us to celebrate, to sing with a full voice,
play drums and cymbals, to praise the Lord "who crushes wars"
(v. 2). The last expression, which defines the true countenance
of God, who loves peace, introduces us into the world of ideas
in which the hymn was conceived. It was about a victory which
the Israelites won in a totally amazing way, a work of God who
intervened to rescue them from the prospect of an impending and
total defeat. So he refers to what happened to Israel, when
Nebuchadnezzar, irritated by this people's failure to cooperate
with his expansionist plans and idolatrous claims, sent the
general Holofernes with