Family images intimacy

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present an understanding of the relationship that God desires with people in the terms of family figures. Friar Jude Winkler discusses the different images of God in the first reading from Deutero-Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55). This is written during the Babylonian exile and it presents consolation to the exiles from Jerusalem that God would not forget their trials. Winkler notes that it was very unusual for Jewish authors of the time to use feminine images in reference to God. The mother who cannot forget the child so attached in her womb is the intimacy God invites people to know. The praise of the psalmist today is for the graciousness and mercy of God. The text from the Gospel of John is a continuation of the discourse after the healing at the pool in the Gospel yesterday. The decision of Jesus to heal with out delay leads Him to proclaim the nature of His relationship to God. The relationship is that of Father and Son. He becomes a blasphemer in the eyes of the religious authorities as he declares and demonstrates the qualities of the Divine in actions of compassion, mercy and healing as a consequence of He and the Father have the same nature. The Gospel of John is an invitation to people to be included intimately in the flow of love in the Divine Family.