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Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne
December 7, 2025
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
2nd Sunday of Advent
“Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 3:1-12
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
Today, the Second Sunday of Advent, the Gospel reading presents us with the figure of John the Baptist. The text says that “his clothes were made of camel’s hair,” that “his food was locusts and wild honey” (Mt 3:4), and that he invited everyone to conversion: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (v. 2). He preached the nearness of the Kingdom. In short, an austere and radical man, who, at first glance, may seem a little harsh and inspire a certain fear. But then we ask ourselves: why does the Church propose him each year as its principal companion during this Advent season? What lies behind his severity, behind his apparent harshness? What is John’s secret? What is the message that the Church gives us today through John?
In reality, John the Baptist, more than a tough man, was allergic to duplicity. For example, when the Pharisees and Sadducees, known for their hypocrisy, approached him, his "allergic reaction" was very strong! Some of them, in fact, probably went to see him out of curiosity or opportunism, because John had become very popular. These Pharisees and Sadducees had a clear conscience and, faced with John the Baptist's impassioned appeal, they justified themselves by saying, "We have Abraham as our father" (v. 9). Thus, caught between duplicity and self-sufficiency, they failed to grasp the opportunity for grace, the chance to begin a new life; they were closed off in the presumption of their own righteousness. That is why John told them, "Therefore bear fruit worthy of repentance" (v. 8). It is a cry of love, like that of a father who sees his son going astray and says to him, “Don’t waste your life!” Indeed, dear brothers and sisters, hypocrisy is the greatest danger, for it can ruin even the most sacred realities. Hypocrisy is a grave danger! This is why John the Baptist—like Jesus after him—is harsh with hypocrites. We can read, for example, Matthew chapter 23, where Jesus speaks so forcefully to the hypocrites in the temple! And why do John the Baptist, and then Jesus as well, do this? To shake them out of their complacency. On the contrary, those who felt they were sinners “were baptized by him, confessing their sins” (v. 5). It is thus: to receive God, it is not bravery that counts, but humility. It is the way to welcome God, not bravery: “We are strong, we are a great people…” No, humility: "I am a sinner": but not in an abstract way, not "for this or that", each of us must confess first and foremost to himself his own sins, his faults, his hypocrisies; we must come down from the pedestal and plunge into the water of repentance.
Dear brothers and sisters, John, with his "allergic reactions," gives us food for thought. Aren't we sometimes a little like those Pharisees? Perhaps we look down on others, thinking we are better than them, that we are masters of our own lives, that we don't need God, the Church, or our brothers and sisters every day. We forget that it is only permissible in one instance to look down on another person: when we need to help them get back on their feet; that is the only instance, the others are not. Advent is a time of grace to remove our masks—each of us has them—and follow the humble; to free ourselves from the pretense of believing ourselves self-sufficient, to go and confess our sins, even the hidden ones, and receive God's forgiveness, to apologize to those we have offended. Thus begins a new life. And the path is unique, that of humility: to purify oneself of the feeling of superiority, of formalism and of hypocrisy, to see in others brothers and sisters, sinners like us, and in Jesus to see the Savior who comes for us — not for others, for us —, as we are, with our poverty, our misery and our faults, especially with our need to be lifted up, forgiven and saved.
And let us remember one more thing: with Jesus, there is always the possibility of starting over; it is never too late. Have courage, He is close to us, and this is a time of conversion. Each of us may think, "I am experiencing this situation, this problem that shames me..." But Jesus is near you. Start again; there is always the possibility of taking another step. He is waiting for us and never tires of us. He never tires! And we are tiresome, but He never tires. Let us heed the call of John the Baptist to return to God, and let us not let this Advent pass like the days of the calendar, for it is a time of grace, grace for us too, now, here! May Mary, the humble servant of the Lord, help us to encounter Him, as well as our brothers and sisters, on the path of humility, which is the only way that will lead us forward.
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POPE FRANCIS
ANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, December 4, 2022
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Homily
Draw from the source
The good news of this second Sunday of Advent is that God has an immense desire to save us. He doesn't just call us from afar. He sends messengers who are his close ones. These messengers of God have the mission of proclaiming Christ. Throughout this Advent season, we are invited to welcome his word and allow ourselves to be transformed by it. The Lord expects from us a response that matches the passionate love he has for us.
Isaiah (first reading) addresses a people living through a difficult situation. The population has suffered from war with neighboring countries. They have been humiliated and weakened by several defeats. But for God, nothing is ever truly lost. In the name of his faith, the prophet reacts. For him, the only true king is God. He starts from almost nothing to bring about the unexpected. Isaiah speaks to us of the “stump of Jesse.” This stump is an image of desolation and death. The House of David was annihilated at the time of the destruction of the temple. But God governs the world in unforeseen ways. From this dead stump, a shoot will spring forth. It will ensure peace not only for the people but also for all humanity.
These words of Isaiah resonate with us in our world today. Many Christians suffer persecution. The 20th century saw a great number of martyrs, and this continues today. Others suffer from the indifference that surrounds them. The faith of Christians is ridiculed. But we must not fear this dictatorship of relativism and secularization. “Nothing can stifle the desire for God that is inscribed in the human heart,” said Saint Augustine. It is on this desire that we must build our lives.
In his Letter to the Romans (second reading) , Saint Paul invites us to take a further step. He reminds Christians how they should respond to God's free initiative in Jesus Christ. He emphasizes three fundamental imperatives: meditating on the Scriptures, living in unity, and practicing mutual welcome. This unity is not to be built around our own ideas or certainties, but around God. To serve this unity desired by Jesus, it is essential that we know how to welcome one another as he himself welcomed all people. This call reaches us in our homes, our groups, and our gatherings. We will only be truly credible if we are welcoming in the manner of Christ.
The Gospel tells us about another messenger of God: John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament, the one who directly announced the coming of the Messiah. His preaching took place in the Judean Desert. When one goes on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, that is where one begins. The desert is the place of conversion. The question is not whether to go to the Judean Desert or the Sahara. Going to the desert is a way of saying that one wants to withdraw from the noise of the world and the demands of advertising. One chooses to shed all superficial things to retain only what is essential.
It was there in the desert that John the Baptist intervened to preach. Like the prophets who preceded him, he spoke with a forked tongue: gentle and encouraging to the humble, harsh and threatening to the proud. He did not attack individuals or groups of people. His aim was to meet each person where they were: to reassure the vulnerable and awaken those who thought they had arrived. He wanted to draw their attention to certain behaviors. When he called them “brood of vipers,” it was to warn them. He wanted to show them that they were of the same lineage as the tempter of the Garden of Eden. This Advent season invites us to return to the Gospel. It is there that we learn to see the world with God's eyes, a gaze full of love and hope.
“Bear fruit that reflects your conversion, ” John the Baptist tells us. Praying every day and going to Mass is good. It's even essential. But the fruits God expects from us also include respect for others, sharing with the hungry and cold, the courage to forgive those who have hurt us; and fighting against everything that destroys a person, a group, or a society. We sometimes hear about weapons of mass destruction. It's true they exist and they cause harm. But those that most annihilate our world are selfishness, indifference, social injustice, and financial scandals that plunge the poorest into poverty. Preparing for the Lord's coming into our lives and our world involves acts of welcome, sharing, and reconciliation.
It is in these acts of love and sharing that we recognize the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. They are a sign that God is already among us. We too are invited to welcome Him and all our brothers and sisters. On this day, John the Baptist directs us to the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Through this baptism, He gives us an extraordinary power of renewal and re-creation, capable of transforming even the greatest sinners into saints. This fire spoken of in the Gospel is the fire of love that is in God.
By following you, Lord Jesus, we are immersed in God's love. This is better than the sacrifices of the old covenant. May this Eucharist allow us to share this joy with all those around us. AMEN
Understanding the readings
with Marie-Noëlle THABUT
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