“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim” (Acts 2:4).
These words from the Pentecost readings have always amazed me. I feel stunned realizing that, as suddenly as a gust of wind blowing into a house, the apostles were given the gifts of whole new ways of communicating.
I have tried to learn another language and the results were anything but sudden. I studied French until the end of my second year of university and enjoyed an immersion experience at Trois-Pistoles, Que., one summer. Eventually I gained the basic ability to communicate in oral and written French, but I have never reached a point of mastery.
One of my close friends – an English-speaking pediatrician – did her specialist residencies in French while living in Quebec. I simply could not fathom the huge undertaking of such intense learning, compounded with the challenge of doing so in a second language. Imagine learning terminology, writing exams and papers, communicating with patients, and interacting with medical teams in another language, all while trying to assure people of your professionalism and knowledge! I remain in awe of her courage and intelligence.
Learning a new language is interesting, exciting, and empowering. It is also overwhelming, humbling, and exhausting; therefore, I admire people who leave their comfort zones to pursue other tongues. For these reasons, I appreciate the literal as well as symbolic notions of the Holy Spirit blessing people with the ability to speak in multiple languages, and blessing others with the ability to understand them.
Language is complicated and its mastery consists of much more than the capacity to conjugate verbs or recall extensive lists of vocabulary. While it certainly involves concrete words, language is an intricate web of turns of phrase, tones of voice, facial expressions, regional dialects, and colloquial nuances. It is integral to communication and provides the connection necessary for people to truly know one another.
Oral language, therefore, was the perfect “ability” for the Holy Spirit to bestow upon the apostles. Without it, we ourselves would probably not be Christians. For the Gospel message to begin to spread throughout the world during the first century, the gift of different tongues was imperative. These witnesses of the good news already faced doubt, criticism, and even condemnation as they spread Jesus’ salvation message; thus, a language barrier would have been an insurmountable obstacle in their mission.
The instant acquisition of new communication, however, allowed them to reach others not only with their words, but with the genuine miracle which made this acquisition possible. In fact, “[others] were astounded, and in amazement they asked, ‘Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his own native language?’” (Acts 2: 7-8).
Speaking to someone in the language personal to them, not only honours their identity, but creates opportunities for smooth – even profound – exchanges of emotions and ideas. Therefore, the Holy Spirit’s gift of language (both the spoken word from the apostles as well as the ability of others to understand them) was essential not only for people to know of Jesus’ message with their minds, but to touch – and convert – their hearts, as well.
For those of us today, the significance of sudden language acquisition on Pentecost is not lost. Now, far more than in any other age, we all know people who speak different languages, and most of us have studied a second language in school. As a result, we appreciate the power and the challenges of oral expression and understanding.
We may not all be blessed with the ability to adequately express ourselves or share the intimacies of our faith stories through verbal communication, but we are all able to share the Gospel message through the universal languages of kind gestures, works of service, and other acts of Christian witness.
Through the Spirit, in word and in deed, may we continue to change the world by sharing – and openly receiving – “the mighty acts of God” (Acts 2: 11).
