jim henson

Friday's first reading at Mass was the story of the Tower of Babel.  God looks down on mankind and sees that they all speak the same language and are building a tower to heaven.  The scripture says they want to make a name for themselves.

God realizes there will be nothing too hard for them to do and comes down and confuses their language and thwarts their plans.

It is amazing to me that mankind has been trying to use what arguably may be called "technology" since time immemorial, to overreach.  Hubris, apparently, was something we acquired at the Fall. In our own lifetimes we have seen society put complete trust in man's ability to invent and "technologize away" any ill or misfortune that befalls us.

What invariably occurs, however, is that new challenges continue to confront us.  As Jesus warned us, the poor are always with us, and death remains the great leveler.

What is necessary, what will remain a folly, a stumbling block and a scandal to many, is reliance on God--indeed, praising and thanking God no matter what befalls us is the key to living as a Christian (forgiving everyone everything being the other.)

We are not on earth to conquer natural law.  We are on earth to grow in the love of God--to become precious stones, reflecting the brilliance of our Creator, by being tumbled against our fellow creatures in the everyday-ness of life.

Hat tip to Orthodox Father Stephen for his moving and articulate thoughts on thankfulness and forgiveness.