• Readings of the day

  • First Reading: Hos 6, 1-6
    Psalm: 50 (51), 3-4.18-19.20-21ab

    Gospel: Lk 18, 9-14

  • Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

    “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity–greedy, dishonest, adulterous–or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’

    But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

    I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”