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Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne
March 8, 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
3rd Sunday of Lent
International Women's Day
The hour is coming—and is now here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: these are the worshipers the Father is looking for.
John 4:23
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
The Gospel reading for this third Sunday of Lent presents Jesus' encounter with a Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:5-42). He is traveling with his disciples and they stop near a well in Samaria. The Samaritans were considered heretics by the Jews and were held in high esteem, like second-class citizens. Jesus is tired and thirsty. A woman comes to him, seeking water, and he asks her, "Give me a drink" (v. 7). Thus, breaking down all barriers, he begins a dialogue in which he reveals to this woman the mystery of living water, that is, the Holy Spirit, a gift from God. Indeed, to the woman's reaction of surprise, Jesus replies, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (v. 10).
At the heart of this dialogue lies water. On the one hand, water as an essential element for life, satisfying the body's thirst and sustaining existence. On the other, water as a symbol of divine grace, granting eternal life. In the biblical tradition, God is the source of living water—as the Psalms and the Prophets proclaim—: turning away from God, the source of living water, and from His Law entails the worst kind of drought. This is the experience of the people of Israel in the desert. On the long journey to freedom, parched with thirst, they protest against Moses and against God because there is no water. Then, by God's will, Moses brings forth water from a rock, as a sign of God's providence, which accompanies His people and gives them life (cf. Ex 17:17-17).
And the Apostle Paul interprets this rock as a symbol of Christ. He says, “This rock is Christ” (cf. 1 Cor 10:4). It is the mysterious figure of his presence in the midst of God’s people on their journey. Indeed, Christ is the Temple from which, according to the vision of the prophets, the Holy Spirit flows—that is, the living water that purifies and gives life. Those who thirst for salvation can freely draw from Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will become in them a source of full and eternal life. The promise of living water that Jesus made to the Samaritan woman became a reality in his Passover: “blood and water” flowed from his pierced side (Jn 19:34). Christ, the Lamb who was slain and risen, is the source from which the Holy Spirit flows, who forgives sins and regenerates to new life.
This gift is also the source of witness. Like the Samaritan woman, anyone who encounters the living Jesus feels the need to tell others, so that all may come to confess that Jesus “is truly the Savior of the world” (Jn 4:42), as her fellow citizens later declared. We too, born into new life through baptism, are called to bear witness to the life and hope that are within us. If our searching and our thirst find their full satisfaction in Christ, we will show that salvation does not reside in the “things” of this world, which ultimately lead to dryness, but in the One who loved us and still loves us: Jesus our Savior, in the living water He offers us.
May the Most Holy Virgin Mary help us to cultivate the desire for Christ, the source of living water, the only one who can quench the thirst for life and love that we carry in our hearts.
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POPE FRANCIS
ANGELUS
Library of the Apostolic Palace
Sunday, March 15, 2020
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Homily
Draw from the source
The texts of Exodus and the Gospel speak to us of the importance of water: we realize this especially when it becomes scarce. The first reading takes us back to the story of the Hebrew people. They had just left a life of slavery in Egypt to go to the land of Canaan. But between the two lies the desert. It is there that we see how essential water is to life. In the heat of summer, the situation can become critical. It is a matter of life or death.
Despite all the blessings they have received, the people struggle to surrender themselves completely. This is often what happens to us: as soon as our lives seem threatened, we doubt, we cry out in despair. We forget that the Lord has never stopped loving us. He has never stopped feeding and giving drink to his rebellious people. The thirst in the desert reveals another thirst that Jesus will quench in the Samaritan woman. He will present himself to her and to all of us as the Source of living water.
The second reading reminds us of the gift God gives us of his life and his Spirit. It is not a response to any supposed merits on our part; it is offered to all, freely. It becomes active as soon as it is received with faith. This is precisely what the Gospel of the Samaritan woman testifies to. Hope does not disappoint. God's great priority is that all sinners be saved. He has never ceased to love them. It is for all of us that Christ died on the cross. It is true that it is difficult to believe when we are suffering from a lack of water. But it is pointless to rush towards waters that will leave us thirsty. God is the one and inexhaustible source. He alone can satisfy our thirst.
The Gospel invites us to meditate on an absolutely extraordinary scene. Saint John reveals to us the whole mystery of God. He begins with the water that fertilizes the earth and gives life to the world. This takes place in Samaria, at Jacob's well. It is there that Jesus stopped, weary from his journey. And it is there that he meets the Samaritan woman. Normally, this encounter should not have occurred. Jews and Samaritans avoided each other. Ancient rivalries divided them.
This woman who comes to draw water is a symbol of our wounded humanity. God sees us rushing headlong into danger and falling into sin. He does everything to pull us out. He sends his Son to “seek and save the lost.” When Christ asks the Samaritan woman, “Give me a drink,” we understand that he thirsts to save her. He thirsts for her affection and for ours. The Samaritan woman will gradually come to recognize Jesus as the Source of Living Water.
This is important for us and for our world. One of the characteristics of our time is religious ignorance. We end up settling into the desert of indifference, unbelief, and "misbelief." Faith becomes secondary to work, leisure, and our various daily activities. God is rejected. But when we try to banish religion, it returns in its most perverse form: the rise of superstitions, esoteric practices, fortune-telling, white or black magic… It is in this desert that Jesus wants to reach the world today. He doesn't want a single person to be lost. It is for us and for the whole world that he gave his life on the cross.
This Gospel is a call to discover our true thirst, our deepest desire. Christ constantly offers us living water. His words are those of “eternal life.” When we truly accept to encounter him, everything in our lives is transformed. This is what happened to the Samaritan woman. A water carrier, she becomes a bearer of the Gospel. She runs to alert her people; she leads them to meet the One she has recognized as the Messiah. The Samaritans believe in Jesus: He is the Savior of the world.
The same Lord meets us in every situation of our lives, even the most complicated. Despite our weaknesses and sins, he refreshes us at the Source of living water, that of his Word and his Eucharist. Then, like the Samaritan woman, we are sent to proclaim that Jesus is truly the “Savior of the world.” We make the words of this song our own:
“A people of brothers, a people of sharing,
"It carries the Gospel and the peace of God."
Amen
Understanding the readings
with Marie-Noëlle THABUT
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