This coming Sunday is Pentecost, the 50th day of Easter. In the Jewish world, Pentecost was originally a harvest feast called Festival of Weeks or more simply, Weeks (Shavuot in Hebrew). Pentecost means fifty and comes from an expression in Leviticus 23:16, which instructs the people to count seven weeks or “fifty days” from the end of Passover to the beginning of the next holiday. Shavuot was the second great feast in Israel’s yearly cycle of holy days. While it started out as a harvest feast, it eventually turned into a day to commemorate the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai.

The Acts of the Apostles tell us that because it was a festival, there were many Jews in Jerusalem from all over the world. Hence, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and they received the gift of tongues and spoke the many languages they did, the visitors were amazed. “Are not all these people (the apostles) who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?” (Acts 2:1-11)

The gift of tongues today, (when it is given), is usually an unintelligible language but the first time the gift of tongues was given, it was intelligible. I think that is significant. How often throughout our almost 2000 year history has the Church spoken intelligibly and beautifully. But, sadly, at other times the Church has spoken in ways that were not. From time to time, the Church has spoken condemnation on groups of people, like the Jews, for instance. We condemned, at times, the faith that brought forth Jesus – how incomprehensible is that! Sometimes the Church even refused to use the gift of tongues and would not even want to speak, to dialog when there was a disagreement, taking the position, “either my way or the highway” to those of differing opinions. That certainly is not an example of the good use gift of tongues. When the Church was born, the Church, spoke plainly, clearly, sensibly and lovingly that inspired everyone, except those who thought the Apostles had had too much to drink.

My good reader, my advice to you is this: be suspect if someone or an institution speaks condemnation rather than unification; run the other way when someone or an institution spreads hate rather than charity; stand up and be the voice of peace, of charity, of reason when someone or an institution speaks words (or does actions) that destroy and isolate anyone. I say all this because if in everything the Church says one does not bear charity, it is not of the Lord Jesus who said to his followers over and over again, “Love one another!” (John 13:34-35).