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Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne
February 18, 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
Ash Wednesday
“Your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.”
Matthew 6:18
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
Meditation by Pope Francis
We begin our Lenten journey. It opens with the words of the prophet Joel, which point us in the right direction. It is an invitation that springs from the heart of God, who, with open arms and longing eyes, implores us: “Return to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12). Return to me. Lent is a journey back to God. How many times, busy or indifferent, have we said to him: “Lord, I’ll come to you later, just wait… I can’t today, but tomorrow I’ll start praying and doing something for others.” And so on, day after day. Now God is calling to our hearts. In life, we will always have things to do and excuses to make, but, brothers and sisters, today is the time to return to God.
“Return to me,” he said, “with all your heart.” Lent is a journey that involves our whole life, our whole being. It is a time to examine the paths we are traveling, to find the way back home, to rediscover the fundamental connection with God, on whom all things depend. Lent is not a collection of good deeds; it is discerning where our heart is oriented. This is the center of Lent: where is my heart oriented? Let us try to ask ourselves: where is the navigator of my life leading me, toward God or toward myself? Do I live to please the Lord, or to be noticed, praised, preferred, in first place, and so on? Do I have a “dancing” heart, one that takes a step forward and a step back, that loves the Lord a little and the world a little, or a heart steadfast in God? Am I comfortable with my hypocrisies, or am I struggling to free my heart from the duplicity and falsehood that bind it?
Homily
Draw from the source
Here we are at the first day of Lent. It's a forty-day period to prepare us for the victory of Easter. Today, we see Jesus addressing disciples gathered around him on the mountain. Those familiar with the Bible know that the mountain is a powerful symbolic place. We all think of Mount Sinai when God gave his commandments to Moses. It was also on a mountain that Jesus delivered his great discourse on the new covenant. It is there that we must follow him to receive his message.
In the excerpt we just heard, he comments on the three principal works of Jewish piety: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. He addresses us with powerful words: “If you want to live righteously, avoid acting in front of others to draw attention to yourselves.” This word “righteous” does not have the same meaning as in our current language. It is not about fairness or social justice, for which we sometimes demonstrate. Today, Jesus speaks to us rather of uprightness and righteousness. The important thing is to walk uprightly in the sight of the Lord and to behave like a child toward his Father.
In this Gospel passage, we see Jesus addressing three practices of the Jewish religion: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. For believers, these were ways of demonstrating their faithfulness to the Lord. Giving alms means opening one's heart to compassion, making us merciful. Through this, we seek to resemble the Lord who desires the happiness of all his children.
Understanding the readings
with Marie-Noëlle THABUT
Une parole pour la route
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