Arrogance

The prophecy in today's first reading (Ezekiel 28:1-10) was initially directed at the ruler of Tyre, the famous ancient port city of Lebanon.

It is a vivid prophecy of doom against a supremely arrogant power.

Over the millennia some have tried to apply this prophecy to particularly arrogant entities of their own day.

Yet we ourselves run the risk of increasing our arrogance if we think that this warning cannot be applied to ourselves: as individuals and as societies.

Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Because thine heart is lifted up,
and thou hast said, I am a God,
I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas;
yet thou art a man, and not God,
though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel;
there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
With thy wisdom and with thine understanding
thou hast gotten thee riches,
and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick
hast thou increased thy riches,
and thine heart is lifted up
because of thy riches:

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD;
Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;

Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee,
the terrible of the nations:
and they shall draw their swords
against the beauty of thy wisdom,
and they shall defile thy brightness.
They shall bring thee down to the pit,
and thou shalt die the deaths
of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God?
but thou shalt be a man, and no God,
in the hand of him that slayeth thee.

Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised
by the hand of strangers:
for I have spoken it,
saith the Lord GOD.

There is no god but God: the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4)

May God have mercy on us all.

May we never allow ourselves to be arrogant, but always recognize our weakness.

May you and I be humble instruments of God's mercy, love, and truth.