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Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne
February 1, 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
4th Sunday of the TO
The Sermon on the Mount. Collegiate Church of Saint James the Greater. Sallanches.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3
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
At the heart of today's Gospel reading are the Beatitudes (cf. Lk 6:20-23). It is interesting to note that Jesus, though surrounded by a large crowd, proclaims them addressing "his disciples" (v. 20). He speaks to the disciples. The Beatitudes, in fact, define the identity of a disciple of Jesus. They may seem strange, almost incomprehensible, to those who are not disciples. But if we ask ourselves what a disciple of Jesus is like, the answer is precisely the Beatitudes. Let us look at the first Beatitude, which is the foundation of all the others: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (v. 20). Blessed are you who are poor. Jesus says two things about his disciples: that they are blessed and that they are poor; indeed, that they are blessed because they are poor.
What does this mean? It means that the disciple of Jesus does not find joy in money, power, or other material possessions, but in the gifts he receives daily from God: life, creation, his brothers and sisters, and so on. These are gifts of life. And even the possessions he has, he is happy to share, because he lives according to God's logic. And what is God's logic? Grace. The disciple has learned to live in grace. This poverty is also an attitude toward the meaning of life, because the disciple of Jesus does not think he possesses it, that he already knows everything, but he knows that he must learn every day. And this is a poverty: the awareness of having to learn every day. Because he has this attitude, the disciple of Jesus is a humble, open person, free from prejudice and rigidity.
There was a beautiful example in last Sunday's Gospel: Simon Peter, an expert fisherman, accepted Jesus' invitation to cast his nets at an unusual hour; then, amazed by the prodigious catch, he left the boat and all his possessions to follow the Lord. Peter demonstrated his obedience by leaving everything and becoming a disciple. On the other hand, someone too attached to their own ideas and securities finds it difficult to follow Jesus. They follow him a little, only in matters where "I agree with Him and He agrees with me," but then, for everything else, they don't follow him. And such a person is not a true disciple. And so, they fall into sadness. They become sad because they don't find what they're looking for, because reality eludes their mental frameworks, and they are dissatisfied. In contrast, the disciple knows how to question themselves, knows how to humbly seek God each day, and this allows them to delve into reality, to grasp its richness and complexity.
In other words, the disciple accepts the paradox of the Beatitudes: they declare that blessed, that is, happy, is the one who is poor, who lacks many things and acknowledges it. Humanly, we are led to think differently: happy is the one who is rich, who overflows with possessions, who receives applause and is envied by many, who has every security. But this is a worldly thought, not the thought of the Beatitudes! On the contrary, Jesus declares that worldly success is a failure, because it rests on a selfishness that swells and then leaves emptiness in the heart. Faced with the paradox of the Beatitudes, the disciple allows himself to be challenged, aware that it is not God who must enter into our logic, but that we must enter into His. This requires a journey that is sometimes demanding, but always accompanied by joy. Because the disciple of Jesus rejoices with the joy that comes from Jesus. For, let us remember, the first word Jesus spoke was: blessed; hence the name Beatitudes. It is synonymous with being disciples of Jesus. The Lord, by freeing us from the slavery of self-centeredness, shakes our closed-mindedness, dispels our hardness, and reveals to us true happiness, which is often found where we least expect it. He is the one who guides our lives, not us, with our prejudices or our demands. Finally, a disciple is one who allows themselves to be guided by Jesus, who opens their heart to Jesus, who listens to him and follows his path.
We can then ask ourselves: do I—each of us—possess the openness of a disciple? Or do I behave with the rigidity of someone with a clear conscience, someone who feels self-righteous, someone who feels they've already arrived? Do I allow myself to be "shaken inwardly" by the paradox of the Beatitudes, or do I remain within the confines of my own ideas? And then, according to the logic of the Beatitudes, beyond trials and difficulties, do I feel the joy of following Jesus? This is the defining characteristic of a disciple: joy of heart. Let us not forget it: joy of heart. This is the criterion for knowing if a person is a disciple: do they have joy in their heart? That is the question.
May Our Lady, the Lord's first disciple, help us to live as open and joyful disciples.
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POPE FRANCIS
ANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, February 13, 2022
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Homily
Draw from the source
This Gospel speaks to us of happiness. It's a subject close to all our hearts. We all want to be happy. Men and women are fighting for better living conditions. While reading this Gospel, I thought of all those who are painfully afflicted by illness, accidents, family tensions, and generational conflicts. And then there is also loneliness, unemployment, and insecurity, which make us so vulnerable to the future. And yet, on the mountain, Jesus sees only happy people. No, this isn't provocation; he simply wants to invite us to look beyond appearances.
The important thing is to welcome this Gospel as good news for the lowly, the poor, the excluded, all those burdened by all kinds of misfortunes. Jesus proclaims them blessed, not because of all the suffering that has befallen them, but because the Kingdom of God belongs to them. Thanks to him, their lives find new meaning and they can begin their journey again. This encounter with Christ becomes for each of them the starting point of a great hope. It is an invitation for us to place all our trust in God. He alone can fill us with his riches. This gift is offered to us freely, without any merit on our part.
The problem is that some of these poor people no longer have the strength to get up. We must hear and respect their cry of suffering. Jesus welcomed the sick, the lepers, the paralyzed, and sinners. He forgave, healed, and raised them up. Today, he counts on us to bring him to all those we encounter. When we go to meet them, it is not just a gesture of friendship. Jesus is there, near us or within us. With him, our visits become "visitations." It is always a great joy when the Lord comes into someone's life.
This Gospel of the Beatitudes is not simply a moral lesson. Jesus wants to teach us to see everything with our hearts, and above all, with God's eyes. On Christmas night, we heard that "Mary pondered these things in her heart." This is an example we are all invited to follow. Even when everything seems to be going wrong, God is there, and he has a loving plan for us. If we only consider what the media tells us, we cannot realize this. We must heed the call of the prophet Zephaniah: "Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth... Seek justice and truth." God builds his plan with the little ones and the humble. By choosing what is nothing, he exercises his power as Creator.
This Gospel, therefore, conveys a message of the utmost importance. In the past, we were taught the commandments of God and the Church, as well as a number of prayers. But most of us have not had to learn this Gospel of the Beatitudes. And yet, it is the key to the Good News. It shows us Jesus coming to meet us in the midst of our lives, in our joys and our sorrows. He constantly opens the door for us to encounter him. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one goes to the Father without meeting him. And when everything is going wrong, it is he who carries us.
To truly grasp the message of this Gospel, we must look to Christ: he is the poor in spirit who places all his trust in the Father and to whom he entrusts his entire life. He is the good shepherd who cares for each of his sheep and goes in search of the lost one. He is the merciful one who comes to set us free and restore us to our feet. He is the one who gives peace not in the way the world does, but by giving himself in the name of the love that fills him. He is the righteous one, perfectly attuned to the love of his Father. He is the one who weeps at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. It is all this and much more that we discover when we turn to Christ.
Jesus doesn't just ask us to be virtuous, which is already quite something. What he wants above all is for us to be happy by following him. And he tirelessly shows us the path to get there: he is our guide, our model of poverty and gentleness. He alone can teach us to truly live all the Beatitudes. So, let's not hesitate to draw near to him. An encounter with him is the chance of a lifetime. It is by choosing to follow him that we find true happiness.
So yes, Lord, we come to you. You are the way that leads us to true life, to the joy of being sons and daughters of God in you. You ask us to give you our misery, our imbalances, our weaknesses. You are able to take all of this in your love to give us your life forever. We want to proclaim the joyful news:
“At the heart of this world, the breath of the Spirit”
Let the cry of the Good News resound!
At the heart of this world, the breath of the Spirit
"It is putting new energies into action today."
Understanding the readings
with Marie-Noëlle THABUT
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