On April 15, 1912 on a calm sea under a moonless night in the North Atlantic, the R.M.S. Titanic sank after striking an iceberg, sending 1500 of the 2200 passengers and crew to a watery grave. But it was not so much an iceberg that sank the “unsinkable” Titanic as it was human hubris and pride. The ship was 46000 tons, constructed with a double hull, as tall as an 11 story building and as long as a football field. It was the result of the finest engineering of the time. So confident were the builders that she could not sink that she was equipped with only enough lifeboats to serve half of the passengers. And most disturbing of all, while the Titanic sped across the ocean, chasing the record for the fastest maiden voyage across the Atlantic, her seasoned captain ignored seven iceberg warnings from other ships in the area. Tragically, in the final hours prior to the collision with the iceberg, the radio operator was ordered to turn off incoming signals from other ships in order to spend his full attention sending outbound messages to New York for the first class passengers. So tragic, so avoidable. Just another example of “A haughty spirit going before a fall.” In today’s gospel, Jesus pops the balloon of pride with two pointed parables both of which have the setting of as great feast. He makes clear that our pride can make us doubly blind, making us see ourselves as greater than we are, and making us see everyone else as less than they really are. Our pride, if left unchecked, cuts us off from other people and can ultimately cut ourselves off even from God. Much pain and harm in our world are due to pride. Let us pray for the gift of true humility which sees everything, including ourselves, in the way that God sees them.
