Gospel (Jn 15,9-17) - At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: «As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Stay in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept the commandments of my Father and remain in his love for him. »I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full. This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I no longer call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master does to him; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father. »You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you should go and bear fruit and your fruit should remain; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may grant it to you. This I command you: that you love one another."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Today we remember the apostle Matthias. He was elected immediately after Jesus' ascension to heaven to recompose the number of twelve, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel, i.e. the entire chosen people. In that number there was an anxiety for completeness and, together, the vision of the universality of salvation which was the most urgent concern of the first Christian community. The tension towards the universality of salvation could neither be attenuated nor suppressed. Judas' betrayal could not block this universal vision rooted in the heart of the Gospel. For Jesus, all men and women of every people and every land have the right to receive the announcement of salvation. The Church has received this vocation to communicate the Gospel to the ends of the earth. It was necessary to elect the "twelfth" apostle: no people, no nation, no person is alien to the love and concern of the Church. It wasn't a question of electing just any person. The criterion is immediately established: the chosen one had to have lived with Jesus, listened to him, seen him, touched him, followed him; in short, he had to be a real witness. Tradition, in fact, places Matthias as one of the seventy-two disciples of Jesus. In the preface of the Ambrosian liturgy it is sung: «In order for the number of the Apostles to be complete, you turned a singular look of love on Matthias, initiated into the following and the mysteries of your Christ. His voice was added to that of the other eleven witnesses of the Lord and brought the announcement to the world that Jesus of Nazareth had truly risen and the kingdom of heaven had opened up to men." In Matthias we can see the name of the disciples of all times. All disciples are entrusted with the care of the community.