A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.

Jesus spoke this parable addressed to those who believed in their own self-righteousness while holding everyone else in contempt: “Two went up to the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee with head unbowed prayed in this fashion: ‘I give you thanks, O God, that I am not like others – grasping, crooked, adulterous – or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week.  I pay tithes on all I possess.’ The other one, however, kept a distance, not even daring to look up to heaven.  All he did was beat his breast and say, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’  Believe me, this one went home from the temple justified but the other did not.  For all those who exalt themselves shall be humbled while those who humble themselves shall be exalted.”

The Good News as spoken through Luke.