March 18, 2023

Reading

Hosea:   6:1-6

6:1 In their tribulation, they will arise early to me. Come, let us return to the Lord.
6:2 For he has seized us, and he will heal us. He will strike, and he will cure us.
6:3 He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, and we will live in his sight. We will understand, and we will continue on, so that we may know the Lord. His landing place has been prepared like the first light of morning, and he will come to us like the early and the late rains of the land.
6:4 What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah? Your mercy is like the morning mist, and like the dew passing away in the morning.
6:5 Because of this, I have cut them with the prophets, I have slain them with the words of my mouth; and your opinions will depart like the light.
6:6 For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God more than holocausts.

Gospel

The Holy Gospel According to Luke    18: 9-14

18:9 Now about certain persons who consider themselves to be just, while disdaining others, he told also this parable:
18:10 “Two men ascended to the temple, in order to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.
18:11 Standing, the Pharisee prayed within himself in this way: ‘O God, I give thanks to you that I am not like the rest of men: robbers, unjust, adulterers, even as this tax collector chooses to be.
18:12 I fast twice between Sabbaths. I give tithes from all that I possess.’
18:13 And the tax collector, standing at a distance, was not willing to even lift up his eyes to heaven. But he struck his chest, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’
18:14 I say to you, this one descended to his house justified, but not the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”