Today's Gospel—John, chapter 15—takes us back to the Upper Room, where we hear Jesus' new commandment. He says: "A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13). And, thinking of the now imminent sacrifice of the cross, he adds: "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” (John 15:13). These words, spoken during the Last Supper, summarize Jesus’ entire message; they even summarize everything he did:

Jesus gave his life for his friends. Friends who hadn't understood him, who at the crucial moment abandoned him, betrayed him, denied him. This tells us that he loves us, even though we don't deserve his love.

This is how Jesus loves us!

In this way, Jesus shows us the way to follow him, the path of love. His commandment is not a mere precept, which always remains something abstract or external to life. Christ's commandment is new because he fulfilled it first, he gave it flesh, and thus the law of love is inscribed once and for all in the heart of man (cf.

(Jer 31:33). And how is it written?

It is written with the fire of the Spirit

Holy. And with this Spirit that Jesus gives us, we too can walk on this path!

This is a concrete path, a path that leads us to step outside of ourselves and reach out to others.

Jesus showed us that God's love is realized in the heart of our neighbor.

The two go together. The pages of the Gospel are full of this love: adults and children, educated and ignorant, rich and poor, righteous and sinners have been welcomed into the heart of Christ.

Therefore, this Word of the Lord calls us to love one another, even if we don't always understand each other, and even if we don't always get along... but that is precisely where Christian love is seen. A love that manifests itself even when there are differences of opinion or character; love is greater than these differences! This is the love that Jesus taught us. It is a new love because it is renewed by Jesus and by his Spirit. It is a redeemed love, freed from selfishness. A love that gives joy to our hearts, as Jesus himself says: "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:11).

It is precisely the love of Christ that the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts, which accomplishes wonders every day in the Church and in the world.

These are many small and great gestures that obey the Lord's commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you" (cf.

In 15:12). These small, everyday gestures, gestures of closeness towards an elderly person, a child, a sick person, a person who is alone and in difficulty, homeless, unemployed, an immigrant, a refugee... Thanks to the power of this Word of Christ, each of us can become a neighbor to the brother and sister we meet. Gestures of closeness. In these gestures is manifested the love that the

Christ taught us.

May our Most Holy Mother help us in this, so that in the daily life of each of us, the love of God and the love of neighbor may always be united.

Homily of Pope Francis

for the 6th Sunday of Easter

Sunday, May 10, 2015