Genesis 11:1-9 / Mark 8:34 - 9:1
It is said that life is a never-ending learning process. That is true, because everyday we learn something new, or we ought to learn something new, so that our minds are nourished and can grow intellectually.
But we also need to be careful about what we learn just as we have to be careful about what we eat.
Because what we learn can either make ourselves better persons or it might just give us a wrong thinking and end up doing the wrong things.
In the 1st reading, we heard that the people learnt how to build and they built a town and a tower with a top reaching heaven. The purpose of their building is to make a name for themselves.
Learning to build is certainly a good thing but the idea of building in order to make a name for themselves has slanted into a selfish and egoistic direction.
And for that God confused their language and scattered the people over the whole face of the earth. And that also ended their proud ambition of building a tower to reach heaven.
In the gospel, Jesus gave us a teaching about being His disciple. He said: If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will save it.
It is a teaching that is difficult to understand and even more difficult to learn and put it into practice.
But let us also remember that what gain is it for a man to win the whole world and yet ruin his life. Or what can a man offer in exchange for his life?
So let us learn from Jesus our Master and Teacher about the meaning and purpose of life. If not, then all our learning and knowledge might be in vain.