I was asked that question a few years ago when I was traveling abroad in a country known for its multilingual citizenry. The lady working in the café was a bit amused at my poor attempts to speak French, the only one of the languages spoken there that I knew a little bit of. She looked at me quizzically and then asked me that question in English. Clearly, she was asking me to say whatever I was saying again, just in a different language.
Language is a funny thing. On the one hand, it’s essential to how we live, how we relate to the world. By language, we learn, we express ourselves, we communicate with each other. Language unites us; but it also can separate us. Because language shapes how we understand culture and history and daily life, it can lead to differences and even division. Certainly, we are all familiar here how in Northwest Arkansas, especially in our Catholic community, the fact that people speak different languages or come from different cultures creates challenges and sometimes even resentments, unfortunate as that is.
Language plays a very important role in the feast of Pentecost which we celebrate today. Gathered together in the Upper Room after Jesus’s Ascension, the Apostles, and the Virgin Mary, receive the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus had promised to send, descends upon them like tongues of fire and immediately they are empowered in a fascinating way. Filled with boldness, they begin preaching throughout Jerusalem, and though they are all from the same region of Galilee, people from all over the world – people who spoke many different languages – hear their words and understand.
The miracle of the gift of tongues, as it is called, would have had a special significance for the Jews of the time. Remember the Tower of Babel story from the Book of Genesis? The men and women of the time desired to build a great city, with a tower reaching into the heavens, to make a name for themselves. But because they did so apart from God, they were left confused and divided, separated from understanding each other because of language, their work unfinished. At Pentecost, the apostles’ gift of speaking in tongues understood by all peoples is a kind of reversal of the sin of Babel. The apostles spoke in strange tongues, and yet they were understood, they were united to those with whom they were different. The language of sin and division which had separated humanity is reversed by the language of the Spirit.
Language is a funny thing. On the one hand, it’s essential to how we live, how we relate to the world. By language, we learn, we express ourselves, we communicate with each other. Language unites us; but it also can separate us. Because language shapes how we understand culture and history and daily life, it can lead to differences and even division. Certainly, we are all familiar here how in Northwest Arkansas, especially in our Catholic community, the fact that people speak different languages or come from different cultures creates challenges and sometimes even resentments, unfortunate as that is.
Language plays a very important role in the feast of Pentecost which we celebrate today. Gathered together in the Upper Room after Jesus’s Ascension, the Apostles, and the Virgin Mary, receive the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus had promised to send, descends upon them like tongues of fire and immediately they are empowered in a fascinating way. Filled with boldness, they begin preaching throughout Jerusalem, and though they are all from the same region of Galilee, people from all over the world – people who spoke many different languages – hear their words and understand.
The miracle of the gift of tongues, as it is called, would have had a special significance for the Jews of the time. Remember the Tower of Babel story from the Book of Genesis? The men and women of the time desired to build a great city, with a tower reaching into the heavens, to make a name for themselves. But because they did so apart from God, they were left confused and divided, separated from understanding each other because of language, their work unfinished. At Pentecost, the apostles’ gift of speaking in tongues understood by all peoples is a kind of reversal of the sin of Babel. The apostles spoke in strange tongues, and yet they were understood, they were united to those with whom they were different. The language of sin and division which had separated humanity is reversed by the language of the Spirit.
William Congdon, Pentecost 4 (c. 1962)
Such is the meaning of Pentecost. Throughout the year, we celebrate the way in which God is revealed to us: through the Incarnation of Jesus, through his Passion and Death, through his Resurrection. Finally at Pentecost, we celebrate that God has not just been revealed to us but also given to us, individually and collectively. By means of our baptism, our confirmation, by means of all of the sacraments, the Holy Spirit has taken up a dwelling place within us: within the Church as a whole and within each of us by grace. Why? So that we can speak, in a sense, a new language, a language not of confusion and division but one of peace, forgiveness, and love that unites and speaks to all people.
In the Gospel today, the Risen Jesus appears to the disciples and tells them that he is sending them out into the world. Such is the life of every follower of Christ – to receive the Good News of Jesus’s victory over death, and then be sent forth to share it. To do so we rely not upon our own efforts and powers, like the people of Babel, but upon the grace of the inner gift given to each of us, upon the Spirit active within us. With his gifts – wisdom, understanding, right judgment, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord – we are sent forth as peacemakers, bridge-builders, healers, missionaries. We can converse in a language beyond mere human words and feelings and ideas; we communicate to each other the very presence of God.
So, my friends, what language do you speak? As we conclude this Easter season, take some time today to reflect upon the power of speech in your life. Think about how you use words at home, at work, to your spouse, to your coworkers, to your kids, to your friends. Try to look beyond the obvious. Ask yourself: “Am I someone who too often uses language for selfish, even sinful purposes?” – tearing down another, swearing, lying, complaining, participating in gossip? Think: “When others hear me, do they hear someone filled with the Holy Spirit?” – or do they hear negativity, fear and anxiety, bitterness? “Where can I be better in communicating the presence of God?” – by comforting another, by whispering a prayer, by teaching a child about Jesus, by gently correcting a friend who has started to gossip, by speaking words of kindness to someone who isn’t my favorite?
Jesus sends us out to share the Good News – just as the Father sent him, just as he sent his apostles. But we don’t have to travel to different lands and learn new languages to spread the Good News; we need only to begin speaking the language of love in daily life – the language of God’s love, the language of the Spirit who has been given to each of us and is active among us. Be a missionary for Christ – in what you say, what you do, how you live. “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.”
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