The first thing I’d want to say about today’s gospel reading is that we should all follow the example of the Pharisee.

Seriously.

That’s where we begin.

If we think somehow that we shouldn’t because, say,

we think we’re not at all like the Pharisee,

that we never look down on people,

that we never pray with ourselves as the centre of our prayers,

that we never compare ourselves with others so that we come out on top,

that we never list categories of people in our prayers as a way of making ourselves feel better,

then, well, we are exactly like the Pharisee.