Rushing to a stop

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary confront us with the dangers of living with our own tendency to rely on the life style which has brought us material comfort and satisfaction of our creature comfort needs including power, pride and position. Ezekiel declares that the assumption of the king of Tyre that he can attribute his success to being as a god when his cleverness and skill have brought him riches and power will bring the wrath of God upon him. The king will be destroyed in a shameful manner at the hands of pagans. The canticle from Deuteronomy is a sharp reminder that God is the author of life and the authority over death. The Church commemorates Pope Pius X today. At the beginning of the 20^th Century he advocated catechetical studies, including the works of St Thomas Aquinas, to purify the doctrine of the Church. In Summa Theologica, Aquinas deals with the seven deadly sins. Pride and covetousness are attitudes which can lead us to the attitude of our centrality like the king of Tyre. Christians have flirted dangerously with the ‘gospel of prosperity’, wherein our good works are rewarded by God with material blessings and wealth, in recent times. The Gospel of Matthew today offers some reconsideration of our attachment to wealth and power. Jesus warns that these attachments may keep us from moving toward greater intimacy with Him. Jesus promises the abandonment of those the self serving passions will bring us to the top of life in communion with God.