Dear Parishioners,
It’s a shame our first reading is not the story of the tower of Babel. As you might remember, in the book of Genesis, the people all spoke the same language using the same words. However, their pride and arrogance led them to build a tower reaching up to the sky so as to be equal to God. Perhaps they intended to go up and talk to God about the world situation and how he could have done a better job. Who knows? Anyhow, according to the story, God gave them different languages to confuse them and prevent them from understanding one another, and thus thwarted their plan. God humbled them in their pride as he does with all of us when we exalt ourselves.
Today in the first reading (Acts 2:1-11), we see a reversal of Babel as the Holy Spirit unifies the people, enabling each one to hear and understand the apostles in their native languages even as the apostles speak only Aramaic (the language of Jesus). That’s one of the roles of the Holy Spirit – to unify us and help us to understand God’s message. Of course, we have to do our part. We have to be open.
Let us humbly pray that the Holy Spirit will unite us to our families, our parish, the Church, and the Holy Trinity. Amen.
- Father Carl
Rev. Stephen Hook is Pastor of the Pastorate of the Visitation which includes the Catholic Churches of Pasadena, Maryland: St. Jane Frances de Chantal (Riviera Beach) and Our Lady of the Chesapeake (Lakeshore). He is assisted by Associate Pastor Rev. John Belinki, Deacon Howard Klohr, and Deacon Rick Clemens. To learn more about our pastorate, please visit www.catholicpasadena.org.
