SPEAKING IN TONGUES

A REFLECTION FOR WHITSUNDAY

When our Blessed Lord told the apostles that after the coming of the Holy Ghost they should go and teach all nations, there is no record that any of them questioned him as to how they would communicate with all the foreigners they would encounter.  They were simple men, fishermen for the most part, so maybe it just didn’t occur to them that people spoke in different languages depending where they lived.  Perhaps they thought about it later, perhaps not.  All we know is that on the morning of Pentecost they started their mission, and everyone—everyone—understood exactly what they were saying.

“They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”  These simple fishermen, most of whom spoke only Aramaic, now spoke in tongues that were completely unknown to them.  It was undeniably a miracle, and the multitude “were all amazed and marvelled.. because that every man heard them speak in their own language.”

As with all miracles, God had a purpose.  He does not perform party tricks for our amusement, and miracles happen for a reason.  He created nature, and this wonderful nature takes care of everything in one way or another as God intended.  He does not intervene in the workings of nature unless there is a very special reason for which he wills to make an exception.  In this particular case, the reason is obvious.  God wanted to make known his new covenant with mankind to as many people as possible and as quickly as possible.  And it was the miracle of tongues that made it possible.

One of the various hundreds of heretical sects that have come into being since those days is a group called the Pentecostals.  It originated at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, and its members claimed that glossolalia (the ability to speak in an unknown language) was evidence that they had been truly baptized with the Holy Ghost.  More and more of them began gibbering in strange-sounding tongues, which sadly, nobody could understand.  They figured out that it would be good to also have members who could interpret the babbling of the first group, and then they claimed this as a further miracle.  We may legitimately wonder why God would go to all this trouble when all these people spoke English anyway.

Eventually, this bizarre cult found its way into other mainstream Protestant churches, and even into the post-Vatican 2 Catholic Church.  These groups are usually referred to as Charismatics, and don’t usually limit themselves to speaking in tongues.  You’ll find that they’re big on faith healing, fake exorcisms, and other “miraculous” parlor tricks that are designed to make money out of gullible converts.  They are not of God, and should be avoided like the plague.  Miracles are exceptions to the rule, and no one should be selling advance tickets to a weekly performance of them.

Miracles do happen though, and the events of Pentecost show us their true reality and purpose.  Don’t be taken in by imposters.