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

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." Perhaps the disciples thought of Abraham, called God's friend, or even Moses, whom God considered his friend, or perhaps they did not understand these words of Jesus. But, beyond their understanding, Jesus showed the love with which he loved them. And it is the love with which the Lord continues to love us too. Like those disciples, we too can struggle to understand and live it. But the Lord repeats to us that he loves us first and that he loves everyone, even if we are undeserving. As John himself reminds us, in his First Letter: «In this lies love: it was not we who loved God, but it was he who loved us and sent his Son as a victim of expiation for our sins» (1 John 4.10). This is the love in which we are called to dwell, to live. The love of God is not a closed, cold and indifferent love in the face of the advance of evil. The love of God pushed - forced, one could say - the Father to send his own Son to save everyone from the slavery of sin and death. We are all his children, indeed he wants us all to experience his friendship with him. And, seeing that Jesus gave his life for everyone, it is evident that for Jesus everyone is his friend: "I have chosen you and appointed you so that you should go and bear fruit and your fruit should remain". The mutual love that the Lord gives us to live is not to remain closed in, but to bear fruit for everyone. And if on this page mutual love is the only commandment that the Lord gives to his disciples, it is because this love has a universal destination in itself. All men already exist in mutual love. No one is a stranger or enemy to the community of disciples. Mutual love, our communion in the Lord, is as universal as the love of God himself. Indeed, it is a small realization of his dream for the world. For this reason Jesus had said shortly before: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another" (Jn 13.35). The communion of brothers and sisters - the brotherhood that we are called to live and enjoy - is the true force that changes the world. It is our joy, it is the joy of the poor and the hope for those who await a light in the darkness of this world of ours.