The first reading from the prophet Ezekiel gives us a sense of being brought back from death to life. I'm sure all of us experience times when we can say like the people of Israel " Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost and we are cut off" Perhaps we feel we have no energy left, we feel lost in life without direction, perhaps cut off from family and friends and even from ourselves.

Today's first reading has a reassuring message for us that God can breathe His spirit of life into us again and bring us back from all the places where we have been scattered. The word of God is alive and active and can restore us to again to life.

As in the beginning God spoke a creative word and brought forth life and all that is beautiful in our world so God continues to recreate us and lead us to the fullness of life Jesus promised us - a life that will last forever.

This is God's covenant of love with us, a love that continues to reach out to us, a love that is everlasting. And what is God's invitation to us ? "You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart and you shall love your neighbour as yourself." Everything we do can be summed up in these two commandments.