Our Native Tongue

by Judy Bevilacqua

This week at the gym, I watched a young man walk through the door and enthusiastically high-five his friend at one of the weight machines (or instruments of torture)! These two talked animatedly, laughing and gesturing wildly. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, but I believe they were speaking Romanian. I found myself smiling, deeply moved at the sense of freedom and relief they must have felt to be speaking their native tongue. No searching for words, or tripping over tenses. This was their heart language, the language of emotions, metaphors, familiar slang and cultural context. I’ve done enough traveling in foreign countries to have experienced this phenomenon myself. Long train rides, full of banter and humor and news, but you can’t understand one word of it! And then, suddenly, you hear a voice speaking English and you are shocked and heartened to hear and comprehend! Oh how we all long to understand and be understood! The heart has its own language. God speaks our native tongue.

It is Pentecost Sunday! We celebrate the coming of God’s Holy Spirit. This event was evidenced by speaking to the nations in the language of their understanding. The language they learned and trusted as a child -- the deep language of the heart. What does this say about God? He is high and lifted up. He is often described as OUT THERE. But really, this gesture suggests that He wants to be IN HERE. Not exclusively, but inclusively. Not just in MY heart, but in all hearts. Present with us… intimate. Whispering in our ear words in our mother tongue.

Language is at the core of God’s love affair with humanity. In a world prone to be separated and torn apart by words and misunderstanding, God is joining us together by the same means. Genesis says hespoke the world into existence: “and God said.” The Gospel of John opens with: “In the beginning was theWORD.” Language is a symbol for intimacy and understanding; conversation and expression. St. John identifies Jesus as the incarnation of the Logos, this WORD of God, through which all things come into being. So, Jesus comes to us expressing God’s heart language to us. (Ah, the divine translator!) And the language He speaks is love.

So how do I want to walk through this Season of Pentecost? How will the Spirit flame up in me? What is translated out of the Acts of the Apostles to become the Acts of Judy? How can I communicate the love of God when – unlike God – I don’t usually know the true heart language of those around me? I’ve studied Spanish, French and Italian at different times in my life and I am not fluent or even conversant in any of them! I couldn’t even master pig-latin in grade school! How then, can I communicate and become more inclusive, making room for others? Especially those foreign to my way of being, speaking and thinking! Perhaps can learn from St. Paul who gave a beautiful language lesson to some very inarticulate Corinthians:

“What if I could speak all languages of humans and of angels? If I did not love others, I would be nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” I Cor. 13

Lord, in this Season of Pentecost, enroll me in this language class! I want to learn YOUR native tongue! To practice the language that has the power to transcend all cultures and contexts. That Logos that can bring all things into being. Grace me with fluency!