21 March 2020

The tax collector went home justified rather than the Pharisee;
for all who humble themselves will be exalted.
FIRST READING 
(Hosea 5.15b - 6.6)

The Lord says:
when Ephraim and Judah acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
then they shall cry out to me.
15 In their distress they will beg my favour:
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord;
for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”
Then I shall say to them:
4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM 
(Psalm 51.1-2, 16-17, 18-19ab)
 
(R. Hos 6.6)
Response: It is steadfast love, not sacrifice, that God desires.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. 

16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering,
you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God,
you will not despise. 

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. 

GOSPEL 
(Luke 18.9-14)

9 Jesus told this parable
to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous
and regarded others with contempt:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray,
one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus,
‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people:
thieves, rogues, adulterers,
or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week;
I give a tenth of all my income.’
13 “But the tax collector, standing far off,
would not even look up to heaven,
but was beating his breast and saying,
‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 “I tell you,
this man went down to his home justified rather than the other;
for all who exalt themselves will be humbled,
but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”