Rome, 10 May (LaPresse) – "Today in the Gospel we heard some words that Jesus addressed to his disciples during the Last Supper. As he made the bread and wine the living sign of his love, Christ said: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’. This statement frees us from a misunderstanding, namely the idea that we are loved if we keep the commandments: our righteousness would then be a condition for God’s love. On the contrary, God’s love is the condition for our righteousness. We truly keep the commandments, according to God’s will, if we recognise his love for us, just as Christ reveals it to the world. Jesus’ words are therefore an invitation to relationship, not a form of blackmail or a dubious condition. This is why the Lord commands us to love one another as He has loved us: it is the love of Jesus that gives birth to love within us.” Thus Pope Leo XIV, as he recited the Regina Coeli with the faithful and pilgrims in St Peter’s Square: “Christ himself,” added Pope Leo XIV, “is the criterion, the standard of true love: that which is faithful forever, pure and unconditional. That which knows neither ‘but’ nor ‘perhaps’, that which gives itself without wishing to possess, that which gives life without taking anything in return. Since God loves us first, we too can love; and when we truly love God, we truly love one another. It is just as with life: only those who have received it can live, and so only those who have been loved can love. The Lord’s commandments are therefore a way of life that heals us of false loves; they are a spiritual way of life, which is the path to salvation.”