"I have spoken these things to you in metaphors." For a deeper understanding of everything that Jesus said and did and of who he was, we must take "metaphor" not simply as the parables and various images which he used but as including all his words, actions, attitudes, gestures, even his very being. Jesus was a metaphor of God: everything he said and did, everything he was, pointed ultimately to the reality of the Trinity. He had meals with prostitutes and tax-collectors, "sinners" in the eyes of those who strove to be holy according to their own understanding of God laws. He reached out and touched lepers - something that most people would have considered unacceptable and perhaps even dangerous to health, whether physical or spiritual. In these gestures, Jesus demonstrated God's pity and mercy in the way he himself was merciful, kind and understanding.

The Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, and then the Church's long history of prayer and reflection, of charity and concern have all helped us to understand God in Jesus, who was Emmanuel.