30th Sunday in Ordinary Time C: Gospel

Luke 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 whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
   and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”