Gospel (Jn 12,20-33) - At that time, among those who had come up for worship during the festival there were also some Greeks. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him: "Sir, we want to see Jesus". Philip went to tell Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip went to tell Jesus. Jesus answered them: «The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves their life loses it and whoever hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone wants to serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. »Now my soul is troubled; what will I say? Father, save me from this hour? But this is precisely why I have come to this hour! Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified him and I will glorify him again!". The crowd, who were present and had heard, said that he had been thunder. Others said: "An angel spoke to him." Jesus said: «This voice did not come for me, but for you. Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be thrown out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to me." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was going to die.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Our Lenten journey is about to come to an end. From the beginning of this Lent we have been invited to convert our lives, to return to the Lord with all our hearts, to listen to him again. And it was a heartfelt and repeated invitation, addressed to us day after day. For this reason we must ask ourselves with responsibility if we have responded to this call of Lent, if we have opened our hearts to the Lord. Even if we had not done it as we were asked, the Gospel of this last Sunday of Lent still comes to us and, like a precious gift, puts the words of that small group of Greeks on our lips: "We want to see Jesus". These words are our request in this holy liturgy, a request that, like those Greeks, we address to Philip and Andrew. They introduce us to the presence of the Lord. In truth, not only today, but throughout Lent, the Community introduced us to the presence of the Lord and sometimes took us by the hand, even when we didn't feel like it, or were distracted, to guide us towards Jesus. lack of help from the Community. We know the meaning of this evangelical phrase: we all need brothers and sisters to escape our usual life and be able to get closer to the Lord and see his face.
And the first great gift we receive is precisely placing ourselves in the presence of Jesus to listen to his word. And let's listen to what the Lord Jesus continues to tell us: "Whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life". And to clarify his thoughts even further he gives the example of the grain of wheat: if the grain that falls to the ground does not die it remains alone, but if it dies it produces a lot of fruit. It is a metaphor that encompasses the whole life of Jesus. He, in fact, did not come to save himself, as many will cry out to him under the cross, but to save sinners; he did not come to be served, but to serve anyone in need. We are about to enter the great and holy week of passion, the week during which the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies. It is Jesus who did not love his life, indeed, he lost it for his friends. For this reason God preserved it for him in the resurrection, the fruit of which has reached us. But it wasn't a painless transition. Faced with his life being lost - and in a few days we will be witnesses of this - the soul of Jesus is troubled and prays: "What must I say: Father, save me from this hour? But this is why I have come to this hour! Father, glorify your name." A voice came from heaven, John writes, saying: “I have glorified him and will glorify him.” Most of those who were at the party did not understand these words; they were indistinct to them, similar to thunder. But Jesus clarifies: “This voice did not come for me but for you”. It is the voice of the Gospel that has also come to us this evening. And every time the Gospel is announced the hour of the Lord arrives. Yes, the hour has come, and it is now, says Jesus. This time, in which the Gospel has not stopped speaking, is the opportune time, it is the hour in which love for ourselves must not prevail, The hour in which the instinctive defense of our behaviors and habits must no longer dominate our lives. To make us understand, Jesus goes so far as to talk about hatred for our life. He, in truth, wants to exhort us to do the exact opposite of loving ourselves, which can seem to us precisely like hatred for ourselves. But we know from direct experience that self-love, contrary to what is generally believed, is not always the best advisor in our life, the one who knows how to show us the way to save it. For this reason Jesus exhorts those who listen to him to follow him: "If anyone wants to serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there my servant will also be". Following Jesus means obeying the Gospel, it means letting ourselves be guided by the word of God. He himself first gives us the example. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes: “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered”. And in a few days, in the garden of olive trees, overcome by anguish he will say to the Father: "Not my will, but your will be done". This obedience, continues the Letter to the Hebrews, has "made him perfect, becoming the cause of eternal salvation for all those who obey him". Obedience to the Gospel is the path of perfection to which Jesus' disciples are called; listening to the Word of the Lord makes us perfect too, because it teaches us not to love ourselves, and to cling ever closer to the Lord. And what the prophet Jeremiah says will happen to us: "Behold, the days will come in which I will conclude a new alliance with the house of Israel... I will put my law in their hearts, I will write it on their hearts". Dear sisters and brothers, this is the right time, the time of the new alliance with the Lord, an alliance of hearts around the Gospel so that everyone is attracted to the Lord.