The Pharisee has counterparts today: those who compare themselves, not with
God of whom they feel they can be independent, but with other people – and never, so they believe, to their own disadvantage.  They are satisfied with the standard they have reached and with themselves for having reached it.

Unfortunately, such an attitude can be evident in Churchgoers as well as non-Churchgoers.  It was no accident that Our Lord, in choosing one of the two leading characters in the parable, selected the Pharisee who was, in modern terms, a very regular Churchgoer.  

And the temptation to act and be as that man was, is with us still.  Most of us like to think well of ourselves, and, as in the case of the Pharisee, one can always induce a comfortable glow by choosing as one’s standard of measurement one’s neighbour instead of Our Lord; for example, there is a very narrow dividing line between criticising someone else for their failure to go to various church services and congratulating oneself for going.

And if we indignantly object that we are not like the Pharisee, it is well to reflect that in saying so we are being exactly like him: “I thank you that I am not like other people ….or even like this Pharisee”.