In today's readings, we have a very serious reminder of God's love, but how that love often can entail justice. A justice which in then culminates in God's mercy, which in turn is extended by His command to others. In the first reading from the prophet Ezekiel, we see that the prophet is already in Babylon when he performs this prophetic action. Because the people of God do not forget were exiled in phases. And he was among the Jews that were deported to Babylon in the first major deportation of 597 BC, when King Jehoiakin, members of the Royal Court, craftsmen, soldiers, and other prominent Judeans were taken away by Nebuchadnezzar. So he takes away the governing body, so to speak, first. As Ezekiel chapter 1 places the prophet explicitly among the exiles. And I quote, “By the river Chebar in Babylonia” (Ezekiel 1:1-3).