Egotistic Behaviour

Leaving God out of our plans won’t work.

Look what happened to the people who built the Tower of Babel.

They said to themselves, without any reference to God whatsoever:

Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves (Genesis 11).

What was the result of this godless and egotistic behaviour?

The Lord dispersed them all over the face of all the earth.

Its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth and dispersed them.

Common language collapsed. Communal life disintegrated.

In our time, genuine discussion is more difficult than ever. Shared values are no longer.

Pentecost reverses the disorientating experience of Babel:

Something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire. These separated and came to rest on the head of each of them.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech (Acts 2).

The tongues of fire are symbolic (St. Robert Bellarmine).

Tongues symbolise eloquence, while the light and warmth of the fire symbolise wisdom and love.

Amen.