Unity in the Holy Spirit

“The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words ... Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.’ … Then the LORD said: ‘If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do. Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says’” (Gn 11, read at the vigil Mass of Pentecost).

This passage from the Book of Genesis regarding the Tower of Babel stands in contrast to what happened at Pentecost when the people “in amazement … asked, ‘Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God’” (Acts 2, read on the day of Pentecost).

The themes of languages, unity and disunity connect these two passages. The people of Babel in their pride sought to do their own will by disregarding God’s plan for humanity. They chose to follow the spirit of the world, which resulted in chaos, confusion and disunity. In contrast, the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaimed God’s great deeds. The Holy Spirit, working in the Apostles, brought unity to the crowd of diverse people gathered outside their door. The effect of the sin of Babel is healed at Pentecost.

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