20121001 God intervenes for us 天主介入罪惡世界
Some descendents of Adam were good, but some were bad. The good were called the children of God and were the descendants of Seth. The wicked were called the children of men and were the descendants of Cain.
The children of God and the children of men did not remain apart but intermarried. Therefore, the good were corrupted by the companionship of the wicked, and the result was that the wicked became more numerous, and became the majority.
Ark— symbol of the Church
When God saw the wickedness of the world, He determined to destroy all mankind by a deluge. However, God decided to save Noah and his family because they led pious lives.
God instructed Noah to build an ark—-a large boat capable of carrying his family and enough animals to repopulate the earth. (Genesis 6:14-21)
Seven days after Noah and his family had entered the ark, God sent the punishment of the deluge. The rain fell for forty days and forty nights. The waters rose above the highest mountains, and all living things on earth died.
After the deluge, Noah offered sacrifice. God was pleased with the sacrifice; He blessed Noah and his sons, and made a covenant with them, promising never to destroy the world again by water. The bow in the clouds is the sign of this covenant.
Noah is a type of Jesus Christ. Noah built the ark to save his family from the deluge, Christ found the Catholic Church to save mankind from eternal damnation. Noah offered sacrifice to God, Christ offered Himself in sacrifice. Noah was the second father of the human race, Christ is the spiritual father of all mankind.
The ark is a figure of the Catholic Church. God Himself commanded Noah to build the ark, and the Son of God Himself founded the Church. There was only one ark, and there is only one true Church. Salvation from the deluge came only through the ark, and salvation from eternal damnation came only through the Catholic Church. The ark did not perish, and neither will the Church.
Tower of Babel
Japheth, Ham, and Shem were the three sons of Noah. Genesis Chapter 10 is the “Table of Nations” because it tells which nations came from each of Noah’s sons.
In Chapter 11, the descendants of Ham who settled in the Plain of Shinar tried to build a very high tower to make a name for themselves. By doing so, they committed the sin of pride.
God confused their language. Before this time, all people spoke the same language, but suddenly they couldn’t understand one another. They were obliged to cease building the tower. The tower was called Babel.
As a consequence of the confusion of languages, the descendants of Noah were scattered over the world; many of them fell into idolatry.
The tower of Babel resulted in division and dispersion; the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost resulted in unity and communion. The fact that all people understood the language spoken by the apostles on Pentecost, evokes, by way of contrast, the confusion of languages at Babel. “Doubtless, the Holy Spirit was already at work in the world before Christ was glorified. Yet on the day of Pentecost, He came down upon the disciples to remain with them forever (cf. John 14:16). The Church was publicly displayed to the multitude, the Gospel began to spread among the nations by means of preaching, and there was presaged that union of all peoples in the catholicity of the faith by means of the Church of the New Covenant, a Church which speaks all tongues, understands and accepts all tongues in her love, and so supersedes the divisiveness of Babel.” (Vatican II, Ad Gentes, 4)
亞當的後裔，良莠不齊：幼子舍特的子孫屬善，因此被譽為天主的子女；長子加音子孫向惡，因此被稱為血肉的子女。善者與惡者仍舊混居，甚至通婚，可惜近墨者黑，致使惡盛善衰。
方舟 ––– 教會的預象
天主決定以洪水，消滅世間的惡人，但同時會保守著熱心敬主的諾厄一家。
天主吩咐諾厄建做一艘巨大的方舟，足以乘載諾厄一家和各種雌雄獸畜禽鳥，以便日後能維持繁衍（創世紀6:14-21）。
諾厄一家帶同各種獸畜禽鳥進入方舟後七天，天主使天降雨四十晝夜，引發洪水，淹及高山，溺斃所有土地上的生物。
洪水過後，諾厄向天主獻上祭祀，被天主悅納，並以天虹作盟誓標記，表示日後不會再以洪水滅世。
諾厄成了耶穌基督的預象：他建做方舟，讓家人得保性命，耶穌建立教會廣施救恩，為免眾生陷於永詛。諾厄向天主獻上祭祀，耶穌把自己作為祭品獻給天主。諾厄成了人類再生之父，基督成了眾靈重生之父。
方舟象徵了今日的教會。天主曾命諾厄建做唯一的方舟，天主聖子則建立了唯一的教會。生命賴方舟得以倖存，眾靈則賴教會承受救恩，逃過永罰。方舟沒有被淹滅，同樣，耶穌建立的教會亦會常存。
巴貝耳塔
諾厄的兒子閃、含和耶斐特，他們的後裔在洪水以後都生了子孫，分佈遼闊的原野，成了後來不同民族的祖先（可參攷創世紀第十章）。
據創世紀第十一章記載，移居史納爾平原是含的子孫，他們建做一座名叫巴貝耳的高塔，意欲要比天高，因此，他們的驕傲，得罪了天主。天主要他們擁有自己個別獨特的語言，讓他們不能像過往一樣，以同一語言互相溝通；由於不能交談，便無法交往，他們遂不得不把建塔的傲思放下，各自散居。
持續的散居遷徙，諾厄的後裔滿佈大地不同區域，其中很多人的敬主之心漸漸地隨之泯漠，且衍生迷信偶像。
巴貝耳塔使人分裂離散，相比五旬節聖神的降臨，使操不同方言的人，都能聽懂宗徒的話，促成彼此合一共融。猶如梵蒂岡第二次大公會議文告指出：「無疑地在基督升天以前，聖神已在世間工作（參閱若：十四，16）。但是在五旬節那天，聖神降臨於弟子們，好同他們永遠在一起，教會也在那一天公開呈現於民眾之前，以宣講方式向萬民傳播福音，也從那天開始，藉着新約的教會在大公的信仰之下預兆出各民族的合一，教會以各種語言說話，在愛德中也通曉各種語言，並採納之，於是克服了巴伯爾塔的紛亂離散。」