Gospel (Mt 5,17-19) - At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: «Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish it, but to give it full fulfilment. Truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single iota or a single dash of the Law will pass away without everything having come to pass. Whoever therefore transgresses even one of these minimum precepts and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever observes them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Jesus, as appears in the Gospel passage of Matthew, is well aware of the importance of the Law. And he states clearly: «Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish, but to give full fulfilment." The evangelist, probably in controversy with some Christians who placed the Jewish Law in the background, reports Jesus' statement that he did not come to abolish but to complete the Scriptures, from Abraham to Moses up to the Prophets. The evangelist suggests that in every page of Scripture, even in every "iota" (it is the smallest letter - just a shaft - of the Greek alphabet), there is a reference to Jesus. The whole narrative of the love of God for his people - as he appears in the First Testament - finds his fulfillment in Jesus. This is why in the Christian tradition Jesus becomes the interpretative key to the pages of the First Testament. This is the meaning of the words that open the Letter to the Hebrews: "God, who many times and in various ways in ancient times had spoken to the fathers through the prophets, has recently, in these days, spoken to us through the Son" (Heb1,1-2). The history of salvation that God began with Israel finds its fulfillment in Jesus. In this sense we can affirm that the fulfillment of the Law is evangelical love, that limitless love of God for us that led Jesus to the point of dying on the cross to save us. For this reason, those who love fulfill the Law of the Lord. The Bible must be listened to on every page, each contains a moment in the history of this extraordinary love of God for men. Each page must be meditated on and preserved with care and devotion. The apostle Paul, in the Second Letter to Timothy, writes: “All Scripture, inspired by God, is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete and well equipped for every good work ” (2Tm 3,16-17). It is also the meaning of the "feast of the Word" wanted by Pope Francis to promote a true devotion to the holy Book which contains the Word of God. Added to the devotion to "Corpus Domini" is that to "Verbum Domini". Saint Francis urged his friars to always collect pieces of parchment paper that fell on the ground (then these were codices in which it was easy to find transcriptions of biblical passages) because they could contain passages from the Gospel. The disciple of Jesus, following his teaching, is called to welcome every word of the Holy Scriptures into his heart and bring it to fruition in everyday life.