THE GREATEST LOVE

Today’s evangelical passage is a continuation of last Sunday’s and constitutes the practical application of the image of the vine and the branches. Terms such as loving, friends, accentuate the theme of fraternal agàpe, which has its model and quality in Jesus. The love of Christ surpasses every other love; it is unlimited, free, free, without returns and has one priority: the disciples. These, attracted by his love, are no longer revealed as servants (there are no relationships of subjection or submission) but friends (philoi), to the point of being made participants in the same relationship that binds Jesus with the Father (cf. John 15 ,15). From this bond, the disciples (but in them every believer) are called to show each other the love they have received. And to do so not so much for moral reasons but as a consequence of their being one in the God of love. But that is not all. Brotherly love is a sacrament of the presence of the Kyrios or the Risen One among them, the most credible testimony of the new life inaugurated in the Master’s Easter. Ubi caritas et amor – the liturgy actually sings – Deus ibi est. But what is its dynamic? Love is always articulated as a gift and acceptance of the gift. But what does donating mean? Simple: giving yourself, yes because love is not a way of having but of being. You can cover a person with many things without loving them. The modality of being, on the other hand, can give even without giving anything on the level of things. For example, a smile, on the level of having is a small thing, but on that of being it can express a lot. When love is a gift and acceptance of the gift, the neighbour is not a person to whom I speak in the third person, keeping my distance; it is not an object that I use; he is not just anyone, indistinct and faceless; he is not an element of life, one of many; he is not a competitor to be displaced, a rival to be overcome, but a companion with whom to share, an ego with whom to be in solidarity, a friend with whom to build life together. Here is the dawn of Easter, the advent of the new creature.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey