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Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne
February 22, 2026
On this page you will find:
The readings for Mass, the Mass leaflet with the choice of hymns
A sample universal prayer available for download, in PDF and editable Word formats.
A meditation on the Sunday Gospel, a spiritual text and commentary by Marie-Noëlle Thabut
1st Sunday of Lent
Man does not live by bread alone,
but of every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4
Readings from the Mass
Mass leaflet
Universal Prayer
Consult the Lectio Divina page, which invites you to read the Gospel in a prayerful atmosphere so that you may be touched in your heart. It is important not to rush to read commentaries or homilies before having this personal experience of encountering Christ in Scripture.
Next, if you wish, you can read the meditations below which will enrich your personal reading and meditation.
Meditation by Pope Francis
On this first Sunday of Lent, the Gospel leads us on the path to Easter, showing Jesus remaining forty days in the desert, subjected to the temptations of the devil (cf. Mt 4:1-11). This episode takes place at a specific moment in Jesus' life: immediately after his baptism in the Jordan, and before his public ministry. He has just received the solemn investiture: the Spirit of God has descended upon him, and the Father in Heaven has declared him his "beloved Son" (Mt 3:17). From now on, Jesus is ready to begin his mission, and since it has a declared enemy, namely Satan, he confronts him immediately, "hand to hand." The devil uses the title "Son of God" to dissuade Jesus from fulfilling his mission: "If you are the Son of God…," he repeats to him (vv. 3, 6), and he proposes that Jesus perform miraculous acts—play the "magician"—such as turning stones into bread to appease his hunger, and throwing himself from the temple walls, leaving the angels to save him. These two temptations are followed by a third: to worship him, the devil, in order to dominate the world (cf. v. 9).
Through this threefold temptation, Satan seeks to lead Jesus astray from the path of obedience and humility—because he knows that in this way, evil will be defeated—and to lure him down the false shortcut of success and glory. But the devil's poisoned arrows are parried by Jesus with the shield of the Word of God (vv. 4, 7, 10), which expresses the Father's will. Jesus utters no words of his own; he responds solely with the Word of God. And so, the Son, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, emerges victorious from the desert.
During the forty days of Lent, as Christians, we are invited to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and to confront the spiritual battle against the Evil One with the power of God's Word. Not with our own words—that's useless. The Word of God: the one that has the power to defeat Satan. That's why we must become familiar with the Bible: read it often, meditate on it, and absorb it. The Bible contains the Word of God, which is always relevant and effective. Someone said: what would happen if we treated the Bible like we treat our cell phone? If we always carried it with us, or at least a small pocket Gospel: what would happen? If we went back when we forgot it—when you forget your cell phone: "Oh! I don't have it, I'll go back and get it"—if we opened it several times a day; if we read God's messages contained in the Bible as we read messages on our cell phone, what would happen? The comparison is clearly paradoxical, but it gives us pause for thought. Indeed, if we always had the Word of God in our hearts, no temptation could lead us away from God and no obstacle could cause us to stray from the right path. We would know how to overcome the daily suggestions of evil that are within us and outside of us; we would be better able to live a resurrected life according to the Spirit, welcoming and loving our brothers and sisters, especially the weakest and most vulnerable, and also our enemies.
May the Virgin Mary, perfect icon of obedience to God and unconditional trust in his will, support us on the path of Lent, so that we may listen docilely to the Word of God to achieve a true conversion of heart.
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POPE FRANCIS
ANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, March 5, 2017
[ Multimedia ]
Homily
Draw from the source
Since last Wednesday, we have entered the season of Lent. Many people are no longer quite sure what it is. Many first think of the deprivations: we fast… we don't eat meat… Children add that we don't eat sweets…
Yes, of course, all of this can be part of Lent. But these deprivations are merely means to an end. The true purpose of these forty days is to rid ourselves of things. Our only priority is Jesus, who died and rose again. Once we understand this, everything else becomes secondary. We are invited to withdraw from the noise of the world and free ourselves from the baggage that weighs us down. Lent is not a period of deprivation but a time of rediscovering the Lord who has never ceased to love us.
The biblical texts for this Sunday offer us a clear and illuminating perspective. The Book of Genesis (first reading) tells us that humankind was created for happiness, peace, and joy. God desires our well-being and the well-being of our world. But the tempter seeks to turn us away from God. He wants us to believe that God has evil intentions toward us. This is nothing but a lie. In the desert, the people of Israel experienced venomous snakes. Suspicion about God is a deadly poison that taints our lives.
Today, as in the past, the Lord sees us sinking into sin and turning away from Him. At the beginning of Lent, He addresses a solemn call to us: “Return to me with all your heart…” It is an urgent plea from our God. He desires only our happiness. The entire Bible tells us that He is “tender and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, relenting from punishing.” God is not there to punish us but to save us and fill us with His blessings. It is with Him that we find the joy of being forgiven. And as a result, we rediscover intimacy with our God. And we will be able to give thanks for this wonder He works in our lives.
This is the path that is offered to us. But on this path, we encounter temptation. Today's Gospel tells us that Jesus faced it. Behind these temptations, there is someone: the Bible calls him "the devil." He is the one who seeks to make humanity fall. He is present in all the struggles of our lives and never gives up. Jesus was tormented by hunger. But he refused to give in to the temptation to possess and consume. He is the Father's beloved Son, and he wants to remain faithful to him to the end. He responds by recalling the Word of God: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God..."
Jesus knows very well that you can't have a dialogue with Satan. He chooses to take refuge in the Word of God. We have heard it said: Man does not live by bread alone. Eating is vital. Being in harmony with God is even more vital: "You shall not put the Lord to the test." Do not provoke him. You shall worship God alone… Do not bow down before idols, before people, and even less before the devil. These temptations are as alluring as the forbidden fruit of Genesis. It is up to us to choose whether we want to live as children of God and be in brotherly love with one another. If we choose to follow Christ, we will live; otherwise, it's a jungle.
Jesus resisted the tempter, and the tempter eventually left him. The Lord shows us how to face all his attacks. He invites us to take refuge, as he did, in the Word of God; the Scriptures open God's heart to us. Meditating on them and putting them into practice with our brothers and sisters draws us closer to God. It is with him that we will find strength and courage in our fight against evil. With Christ, we will learn to reject all the deceptive advertising that circulates throughout the world and leads us astray from the Gospel. The Light of God's Word is offered to us to illuminate our lives.
If we delve a little deeper into the Gospels, we discover good news: everything the devil promises him, Jesus will receive from his Father: the event of the multiplication of the loaves, and then the resurrection from the dead on Easter morning. But while the devil offers him all of this immediately, Jesus wants to receive it only from his Father, accepting the painful path that will establish him as the glorious Messiah.
At every Eucharist, the Lord asks only to nourish us with the "living Bread that came down from heaven." He nourishes faith; he makes hope grow and gives us the strength to love. May we, throughout this Lent, always hunger for Christ, the only living Bread, and for every word that comes from his mouth.
Sources: Feu Nouveau magazine, Thoughts on the Gospel of Matthew (Christoph Schonborn), Francis according to Saint Matthew, personal files…
Understanding the readings
with Marie-Noëlle THABUT
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