Today is Feb 21, Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time.
We read in Scripture at today’s Mass, “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” (Gen 11:4).
No biblical story warns against human ambition and the illusion of self-sufficiency as clearly as the story of the Tower of Babel. In Genesis 11, humanity sought to build a tower to the heavens, grasping at unity apart from God. This prideful pursuit, we are told in the story, led to confusion, division and a world torn apart by different languages and misunderstanding.
In the folk band Mumford & Sons’ 2012 song “Babel,” which debuted at number one on Billboard 200…the eponymous album later won a Grammy, the lyrics echo the weariness of a soul wandering in self-imposed exile, longing for clarity, for home, for something sure and unshakable. The singer wrestles with a broken world, lamenting, “You tore my heart out and I tore yours out,” capturing the fragmentation that follows when we try to forge our own path without God’s blessing.
Christ is the remedy
How often do we attempt to build our own towers, striving for recognition, success, or control? We push forward, believing we can shape our own destiny, only to find ourselves in disarray — misunderstood, disconnected, longing for something more. Yet, what was scattered at Babel finds its answer in Christ. We said we’d be reading Genesis through the lens of Hebrews. In his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus binds up all that has been dispersed. In his one sacrifice, our many sins are forgiven and we are made one in his blood.
Christ is the remedy for Babel. He gathers what was dispersed, heals what was torn, and calls us into communion — not a unity built by human hands, but one formed by his own spirit of love, the Holy Spirit. The answer to our striving is not another tower, but surrender at the foot of the cross, the only way to heaven.
Let us pray,
O God, who teach us that you abide in hearts that are just and true, grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace as to become a dwelling pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
