Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

In today’s Gospel, the Lord once again leads us to the heart of our faith (cf. Mt 22:34–40). A teacher of the Law, seeking to test Jesus, asks him, “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (v. 36). The Teacher responds by quoting a passage from Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (v.37; cf. Deut 6:5). Christ places love at the very center of our relationship with God. Indeed, it is not enough to know that God exists, that he is the only God, or that he is the Almighty. The Lord seeks a personal relationship with us: the one true God wants to become our God.

In our encounter with him, the commandment of love is neither an obligation nor an imposition. Indeed, one cannot love “on command.” Love for God is the very essence of human desire, which finds its fulfillment in communion with him. For this reason, our love can be authentic only when it is a response to his love, which always precedes us. From this arises the need for a total commitment that involves the whole person: heart, soul and mind.

To the first commandment, the Lord adds a second: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:39). This rule of life springs from the same source; that is why Jesus says that it is similar to the first. Thanks to our close relationship with God, we are able to look at ourselves and our neighbors through the eyes of Christ, from his perspective. In this way, selfishness is overcome and even love for oneself becomes charity: our existence turns toward the other and becomes a gift for those around us.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus understood this well: “Love alone,” she wrote, makes “the Church’s members act, and if Love ever became extinct, apostles would not preach the Gospel” (cf. Complete Works, Manuscript B, 3v°, Rome 1997, 223). Indeed, without love, our faith would be deprived of its essence, our good works would be reduced to mere moralism, and our hope would be in vain.

Dear friends, we cannot truly love God unless this love overflows into love for our brothers and sisters. And we cannot truly love our neighbor except as children of the same Father who loved us first in his Son, Jesus.

Let us ask the Lord for the grace of a new heart, capable of embracing and living out the greatest of all commandments. May the Blessed Virgin Mary intercede for us, in whose Immaculate Heart there is nothing but love.

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After the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am following with concern the grave humanitarian situation in Yemen, particularly in the city of Taiz, where the population is suffering from a lack of food, water and medical care. I make a heartfelt appeal for hostilities to cease and for the Yemeni people and all the peoples of the region to be guaranteed the right to live in peace.

My prayers go out to all those who were injured or lost their lives last Friday in the terrorist attack on worshippers at the Orthodox Church of Saint George in Hamoud, Jordan. I express my closeness to the community and the entire country, which is known for its peaceful coexistence and respect between different religions.

Let us continue to pray together for peace. The day after tomorrow, on 27 October, let us join in spirit with the heads of churches and religious leaders who will gather in Assisi to mark the 40^th anniversary of the meeting convened by Saint John Paul II. Never before has it been so clear that wars, as well as sowing death and destruction, impoverish and harm the world. May the Lord inspire choices of dialogue and peace!

I greet you all, dear faithful of Rome and pilgrims from various countries!

I welcome the members of the Centro Académico Romano Fundación from Spain; the group from Saint Ciaran’s College in Ballygawley, Ireland; and the group from the “Saint John Paul II” schools of the Diocese of Opole, Poland.

I am pleased to welcome the heads of protocol from a number of Italian ministries and government departments.

I greet the members of the “Solidarietà in Buone Mani” Association from Castiglion Fiorentino, and the group of friends from Concorezzo who have come on a pilgrimage to mark their 70th birthdays.

I wish you all a happy Sunday.