Gospel (Jn 3,16-21) - At that time, Jesus said to Nicodèmo: «God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not be lost, but have eternal life. In fact, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he did not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And the judgment is this: the light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness more than the light, because their works were evil. For whoever does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be condemned. Instead, he who does the truth comes towards the light, so that it may clearly appear that his works were done in God."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not be lost but have eternal life.” In this sentence of Jesus to Nicodemus there is a synthesis of the Gospel of John. Jesus is the Father's gift to humanity, a gift that flows from limitless love. God's desire is so great that men do not get lost in the coils of evil that sends his own son so that they may be freed and saved. We can therefore say that when "the Word became flesh", God has never been so close to men. What greater proof of love could he have given than this? He considered his friendship for us greater - if we can say so - than the bond with his own son. In truth, the sending of the Son to earth by the Father and the love of the Son for us which reaches to the point of death on the cross, show that love is a gift, it is service, it is the willingness to give one's all for others. others. It is a false love that leads you to think only of yourself. The love is that of Jesus who spent his entire life to save others from the slavery of evil and death. In this sense, Jesus explains to Nicodemus the reason for his incarnation: "God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but so that it might be saved through him". Jesus does not want the condemnation of the world. He came for exactly the opposite, that is, to save men from evil and from all slavery. And the way that is put in place for this to happen is that of love: God's love for us and, consequently, man's response to welcoming this love. This is faith. This is why Jesus says: “Whoever believes in him (in the Son) is not condemned”. Whoever welcomes Jesus as the one sent by the Father to save us from evil is a believer. And he is therefore already saved. Faith - and therefore salvation - consists in welcoming the boundless and gratuitous love of Jesus. Whoever refuses this love is judged, not by Jesus but by his own refusal because he withdraws from the strength of the love that frees from the coils of evil, rejects the light of God's love to remain in the darkness of self-love. And unfortunately often, too often, men - and sometimes the disciples themselves - prefer the darkness of violent and cruel life to that of love, justice and brotherhood. The works of egocentrism, the works of violence, thicken the darkness, inside the hearts of men and in life among people. And there is like a diabolical spiral in which we remain prisoners. Whoever welcomes the true light, which is Jesus and his Gospel, is enlightened or rather enveloped in the light of the Gospel. And doing works in God means living with the boundless love of God. It is the love that we and the world need even at the beginning of this new millennium. Pope Francis, visiting the island of Lampedusa last year, sadly known for the lack of welcome given to immigrants, stigmatized that globalization of indifference which is at the root of the thousands of deaths, not only in Lampedusa, but in the entire world. Christians have the fascinating and arduous task of globalizing the love received from the Lord. He welcomes us into his own dynamism, making us from now on "children of the resurrection" and witnesses of the liberating efficacy of this love.