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Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne
January 25, 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 the TO
Sunday of the Word
“Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 4:17
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.
Méditation
HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS
SUNDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD
Jesus leaves the quiet, hidden life of Nazareth and settles in Capernaum, a town on the Sea of Galilee, a place of passage, a crossroads of different peoples and cultures. His driving force is the proclamation of the Word of God, which must be brought to everyone. Indeed, we see in the Gospel that the Lord invites everyone to conversion and calls the first disciples to share the light of the Word with others (cf. Mt 4:12-23). Let us grasp this dynamism, which helps us to live this Sunday of the Word of God: the Word is for everyone, the Word calls for conversion, the Word makes us heralds.
The Word of God is for everyone. The Gospel presents Jesus always on the move, traveling to others. At no point in his public life does he give the impression of being a static teacher, a professor sitting in a pulpit. On the contrary, we see him as an itinerant pilgrim, traveling through towns and villages, encountering faces and stories. His feet are those of a messenger who proclaims the good news of God's love (cf. Isaiah 52:7-8). In Galilee of the Gentiles, on the road to the sea, beyond the Jordan, where Jesus preached, there was—the text notes—a people plunged in darkness: foreigners, pagans, women and men from various regions and cultures (cf. Matthew 4:5-16). Now they too can see the light. And so, Jesus “enlarges the boundaries”: the Word of God, which heals and raises up, is not intended only for the righteous of Israel, but for everyone; He wants to reach those who are far away, he wants to heal the sick, he wants to save sinners, he wants to gather the lost sheep and comfort those whose hearts are weary and burdened. Jesus, in short, “crosses boundaries” to tell us that God’s mercy is for everyone. Let us not forget this: God’s mercy is for all and for each one of us. “God’s mercy is for me,” everyone can say that.
Homily
Draw from the source
The biblical texts for this Sunday speak of a complicated world with a bad reputation. This is the case of the territories of Zebulun and Naphtali in northern Galilee. It's important to understand that this is a crossroads close to pagan regions. It's called "Galilee of the Gentiles" because it is influenced and contaminated by the pagan world. But the prophet intervenes. He announces that these territories, too, will benefit from the salvation the Lord is preparing. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; on the lands of those who dwelt in darkness a light has dawned."
Yet it was there, in that place shrouded in shame, that Jesus undertook his first evangelization. It all began far from Jerusalem, in the very heart of this diverse world, a pagan world rife with conflict and division. Jesus himself went to Nazareth, a town from which people wondered what good could possibly come. John the Baptist had designated him as the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sin of the world. His priority, therefore, was to those furthest from God, these cursed lands, lands of sin and darkness. He came to live in Capernaum; this town still evokes the darkest chaos today.
Understanding the readings
with Marie-Noëlle THABUT
Une parole pour la route
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