Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel of this Sunday, May 18, 2025, entitled “I Give You a New Commandment.”

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Today’s Gospel invites you to live in love. Jesus’ command is obvious: I give you a new commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you.

This is the key to the Christian life and the key to happiness. God is love; you have been created in God’s image and likeness, and therefore, to the extent that you love, you are fulfilled as a person and can be happy.

Happiness does not come from success, money, power, pleasure, or any of the idols of this world. Only those who love is happy. But what love are we talking about? The Gospel has told us clearly: just as I have loved you.

What is the love of Christ like? Today, the proclaimed Word gives us some clues to discover it.

I saw the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. Love is no longer just a “commandment,” but the response to the gift of love, with which it comes to meet us (cf. DCE, 1). The disciple’s love is born from the encounter with the Lord who changed his life: “Behold, I make all things new.” The disciple, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, has a new heart, a new gaze: that of the Lord. Just as I have loved you.

Now the Son of Man is glorified. He loves to the point of self-giving. He manifests himself more in deeds than in words (Mt 25). It is not merely a feeling. Feelings come and go. They may be a wonderful initial spark, but they are not the totality of love (DCE, 17).

I will bless your name forever, my God, my King. The experience of the encounter with the Lord is so great that it cannot but live in blessing, in praise, which echo the welcome of the Spirit’s action in the heart.

He is faithful: Paul and Barnabas were encouraging the disciples and exhorting them to persevere in the faith, telling them that they must go through many tribulations to enter the Kingdom of God.

They told them what God had done through them… By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Love grows through love (cf. DCE 18). It is not an isolated or narcissistic love. It is a love received and offered, which gradually discovers that one is happier in giving than in receiving (Acts 20:35).

He lives in gratuitousness. God loves you freely. Before you love him back, and even if you do not love him. He loves you without expecting anything in return. He never stops loving you. Even if you are unfaithful, He remains faithful. He loves you not for what you do but for who you are: His child, His creature.

Christ is the concrete example of how you should live love. Jesus Christ crucified is the authentic portrait of God. Charity is without measure. The cross teaches what it means to love like God and like Christ. Do you dare to love this way? Not in your own strength, but in the power of the Creator Spirit! Trust in the Lord! Love to the point of giving your life, forgetting yourself, and you will find God and be happy!

*Come, Holy Spirit!*