A Reckoning: Humility or Haughtiness?

In today’s first reading, Ezekiel 28: 1-10, the Lord has harsh words for the prince of Tyre, and for the haughty of heart.  He says to the prince:

!

Because you are haughty of heart, you say, ‘A god am I! I occupy a godly throne in the heart of the sea/[and in the heart of the world]!’  And yet you are a man, and not a god, however you may think yourself like a god.  Oh, yes, you are wiser than Daniel[or any current leader]; there is no secret that is beyond you. By your wisdom and your intelligence you have made riches for yourself; you have put gold and silver into your treasuries.  By your great wisdom applied to your trading you have heaped up your riches; your heart has grown haughty from your riches—therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have thought yourself to have the mind of a god, therefore I will bring against you foreigners, the most barbarous of nations. They shall draw their swords against your beauteous wisdom; they shall run them through your splendid apparel. They shall thrust you down to the pit, there to die a bloodied corpse, in the heart of the sea[and in the heart of the earth]. Will you then say, ‘I am a god!’ when you face your murderers?  No, you are a man, not a god, handed over to those who will slay you….”

God voices this same message to those today who are haughty of heart and who, by their actions, are saying: “A god am I” and “I am wiser than anyone else in the world, I am richer than anyone else, have stored up more gold and silver than anyone else.  I can fix anything!  And God says to these haughty persons:  “Because you have thought yourself to have the minds of god, there I will bring against you foreigners, the most barbarous of nations. They shall draw their swords against your beauteous wisdom; they shall run them through your splendid apparel. They shall thrust you down to the pit, there to die a bloodied corpse, in the heart of the sea/[or in the heart of the earth]!”

Are we listening? Or are we saying:  This will not happen to us. We are beyond such destruction. We will build walls to protect us. We will keep barbarians out of our country. We can do it because we are wiser and wealthier than anyone else! Are we, without realizing it, saying : “We are God; there is no other!”

If  we believe that our wealth will save us, we need to  listen to Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel, Matthew 19: 23-30:  “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven.”  Peter then asked the Lord: “Who then can be saved?” And Jesus says: “For  [humans] this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”  God and God alone is our Savior, not our wealth and not our military. Only the Lord God! Is it time to get on our knees and say: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (See Luke 18:13—the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, one who boasts about his riches and the other who falls on his knees and begs for mercy)?