Tower of Babel has something to teach us

 One of the liturgical readings for the feast of Pentecost that bears significantly on its meaning but is seldom preached on is the story of the Tower of Babel, which is proclaimed in the Mass of the Vigil.
in the human family, the inability or the unwillingness of different peoples to communicate, to collaborate, the hatred and hostility that characterizes human relations. All this is the result of human pride and arrogance as expressed in the project to build a tower that would reach to heaven, that would attain to God himself.

The story of the Tower of Babel is the last of the creation stories in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, stories which explain the human condition, why things are as they are here and now. The story of Babel explains the phenomenon of different languages, the sad fact of division and separation

The first reading on Pentecost Sunday is an account of how as a result of the Holy Spirit's coming upon them the apostles were able to preach in the their own language and be understood in the many different languages their hearers spoke. They proclaimed the Good News that Jesus had died on the cross and rose three days later, a new creation; that on the cross he had broken the circle of hatred and revenge, of anger and retaliation; that risen from the dead he brought a message of reconciliation and peace to his own.

A new creation has taken place by reason of the paschal mystery, the world has been re-made. Humankind has been redeemed from its fall into pride by Jesus' dying and rising. Men and women re-created in Baptism are, or should be, a source of union not division, of joining together not separating from one another, of mutual understanding not confusion, of respect and reverence for one another not disdain or contempt, of acceptance and love not hatred and rejection. For as Christians we are a new creation. That is the message and the meaning of Pentecost.

Yet there is still so much of us that remains unredeemed and un-recreated, so much that is still infected with disordered pride both individual and collective: racial pride, ethnic pride, national pride, regional pride, social pride, personal pride. We think ourselves better, more intelligent, more virtuous, harder workers, more talented, more blessed by God than others. As a result, we discriminate against them and so render ourselves unable to hear or understand their truth however we encounter it. The sin of pride continues to destroy the creation that God called into existence, looked upon and saw that it was very good.

To celebrate the feast of Pentecost should be to celebrate unity in the midst of diversity, to rejoice in the differences that make up the one body of Christ.