Then the LORD said [of the people of Babel]: "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."
The Divine Author of Genesis 11 understands very well that a nation becomes strong when its values are shared and its language is uniform and coherent. Everyone is on the same page as they make and execute decisions. However, should their values become polarized by separate blocs with differing agendas, and their language become confused by different signals and dog whistles, their society will erode. If they cannot trust, compromise, or communicate with each other, the nation must collapse. It doesn't take many passages of scripture to show us that.
We have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of cities, nations, and empires, including the mythical Babel, Theed, and the Galactic Empire rise as they cohered around one set of values. But few survive more than a few hundred years. Values change from those of flourishing to maintenance to survival; their societies become stratified with increasing disparity of wealth and power; and their confused agendas become conflicts. They don't know what to want and finally want nothing but to destroy each other, which is easily done. Civil wars are the worst kind.
Had they agreed upon the one universal and enduring language that is available to every nation in every age, they would have survived. But that promise remains unfulfilled to this day.
The one language of all the Earth is Truth. So long as we agree to the truth, we stand together for it is a rock as solid as the earth itself. A house or city built on the foundation of truth will prevail against the gates of hell; a city founded on the sands of opinions and alternate facts cannot long endure. The greatest threat to a nation is its willingness to ignore reality in favor of their own convictions and beliefs. As Saint John Henry Newman said, if we pick and choose our own doctrines, the ones we like and understand, we're not listening to God.
As Catholics we're given the truth through our scriptures, traditions, liturgy, and Magisterium. If we don't understand and think we might disagree with the Church's teachings, we have the duty to study and research them until we see their rock solid foundations. Disagreement is often fatal as people wander off in search of more palatable truth. Catholicism is not a religion for consumers.
Anyone who has listened to the Lord knows it is often difficult to accept the way things are. We're often called up short by the hard facts of life, or by trustworthy friends, or by reliable enemies. But even the demons know the truth and often tell us to our faces.
The Catholic Church endures because our language is the language of the Holy Spirit. We came out of the Cenacle in Jerusalem speaking to all the nations in all their languages and those who sought the truth understood what we said. We go to the farthest corners of the world and find both acceptance and rejection. We are glad of the former and saddened by the latter. But we can speak only this one universal language which is reliable in every place and every age. And so we endure, maintain, and flourish.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.