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Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne
December 21, 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
4th Sunday of Advent
“Joseph, son of David,
Do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, into your home.
since the child who is conceived in her
comes from the Holy Spirit;
She will give birth to a son.
and you shall name him Jesus
(that is: The Lord saves),
for it is he who will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:20b-21
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's liturgy, the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, is characterized by the theme of closeness, God's closeness to humanity. The Gospel passage (cf. Mt 1:18-24) shows us the two persons, the two persons who more than any others were touched by this mystery of love: the Virgin Mary and her spouse Joseph. A mystery of love, a mystery of God's closeness to humanity.
Mary is presented in light of the prophecy that says, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son” (v. 23). The evangelist Matthew acknowledges that this happened in Mary, who conceived Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. v. 18). The Son of God “comes” into her womb to become man, and she welcomes him. Thus, in a unique way, God drew near to humankind by taking on the flesh of a woman: God drew near to us and took on the flesh of a woman. God also draws near to us, in a different way, with his grace, to enter our lives and offer us his Son as a gift. And what do we do? Do we welcome him, do we let him draw near, or do we reject him, do we turn him away? Like Mary, who, by freely offering herself to the Lord of history, allowed him to change the destiny of humanity, so too, by welcoming Jesus and seeking to follow him each day, we can cooperate in his plan of salvation for ourselves and for the world. Mary thus appears to us as the model to which we should turn and the support on which we can rely in our search for God, in our closeness to God, in allowing God to draw near to us, and in our commitment to building the civilization of love.
The other protagonist of today's Gospel is Saint Joseph. The evangelist highlights that Joseph alone cannot explain the event unfolding before his eyes: Mary's pregnancy. It is precisely then, in this moment of doubt and anguish, that God draws near—to him as well—through a messenger, and he is enlightened about the nature of this motherhood: "What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit" (v. 20). Thus, faced with this extraordinary event, which undoubtedly stirs many questions in his heart, he trusts completely in God, who draws near to him, and, following God's invitation, does not divorce his betrothed but takes her into his home and marries Mary. By welcoming Mary, Joseph consciously and lovingly welcomes the One conceived within her by the wondrous work of God, to whom nothing is impossible. Joseph, a humble and righteous man (cf. v. 19), teaches us to always trust in God, who draws near to us: when God draws near to us, we must trust. Joseph teaches us to let ourselves be led by Him with willing obedience.
These two figures, Mary and Joseph, who were the first to welcome Jesus through faith, introduce us to the mystery of Christmas. Mary helps us to be open to receiving the Son of God in our lives, in our very being. Joseph encourages us to always seek God's will and to follow it with complete trust. Both allowed themselves to be drawn near by God.
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means, ‘God with us’” (Mt 1:23). The angel says, “The child shall be called Emmanuel, which means God-with-us,” that is, God near to us. And to God who draws near, do I open the door—to the Lord—when I feel an inner inspiration, when I feel that he is asking me to do something more for others, when he calls me to prayer? God-with-us, God who draws near. This proclamation of hope, which is fulfilled at Christmas, fulfills the expectation of God also in each of us, in the whole Church, and in so many little ones whom the world despises, but whom God loves and to whom God draws near.
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POPE FRANCIS
ANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, December 18, 2016
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As we approach Christmas, we leave behind the figure of John the Baptist to delve into the story of Jesus. There, we encounter Joseph, the husband of Mary. This passage explores origins, the action of God, and how God can enter and act in our human lives. Recognizing the reality of Jesus's own experience of death and resurrection, through a kind of ripple effect, requires us to examine the origins of this man, Jesus, and how God enters into each of our human stories.
What does this testimony tell us? God opens up our stories, allowing us to leave a well-trodden path, one we might be tempted to correct or rectify according to our own judgment, and enter a new path, one he offers us by calling us by name. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife.” For this reason, God speaks to us in the deepest part of each of us, to a depth we cannot reach on our own. “An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.”
God never forces us, but speaks to us through his Word, most often delivered by his messengers (the prophets), a Word he offers us to prefer to any self-evident truth… This has been the case from Abraham to little Bernadette of Lourdes, who heard the Lady say to her, “Would you do me the favor…?” Never any violence, only a word, the Word, which springs up within us, deeper within us than our conscience. This call can frighten us, so profound is the Word. But this Word will reveal itself over time, faithful and gentle, creative and fruitful…
God never ceases to come into our human stories, into each one of them—the story of John the Baptist, the story of Joseph, our own—opening it to newness… Let us let him speak, let us listen to him, let us receive him, let us say “yes” to him: he can then act, shaping us with our informed and wonder-filled consent… Let us thus allow him to open the gates of the Kingdom for us, to find our true place there. “When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him: he took Mary home as his wife.”
Jean-Luc Fabre, Jesuit companion
Understanding the readings
with Marie-Noëlle THABUT
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