Do you ever feel that the troubles of life are just too much or that God does not seem to care? Today's readings respond to these painful feelings.

Isaiah tells the Israelites they have not been abandoned. Although they are now suffering in exile, one day they will return home. A mother's love for her child is intense, yet God's love is even greater. God desires they come out of darkness and "be free!" (Is. 49:9).

In the Gospel, Jesus is persecuted by the Jewish leaders. Jesus says that He is working just as His Father is working, expressing that Jesus is equal to God. Yet the leaders cannot accept this. Jesus says even more clearly: "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it" (Jn 5:21). Only God can give life. Jesus is God and desires that His people-we-receive life. No challenge in life, no amount of suffering, not even death can separate us from the love of God.

Is there a situation of abandonment in my life? What is my greatest worry? When I express this to Jesus, how does He respond?