In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Book of Acts, we see how in some cases, the great manifestation of having received
the Holy Spirit was to speak in tongues; in fact, at Pentecost, the word of God in the
book of Acts of Apostles tells us "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began
to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.
Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this
sound they all assembled, and each one was bewildered to hear these men speaking his
own language."
This fact contains a very deep teaching, that in order to understand it, we have to remember
what the Book of Genesis tells us about the tower of Babel that says:
"The whole world spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary.
Now, as people moved eastwards they found a valley in the land of Shinar where they settled.
They said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.'
For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen.
'Come,' they said, 'let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven.
Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we do not get scattered all over the world.'
Now Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built.
'So they are all a single people with a single language!' said Yahweh.
'This is only the start of their undertakings!
Now nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.
Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they cannot understand one another.'
Yahweh scattered them thence all over the world, and they stopped building the city.
That is why it was called Babel, since there Yahweh confused the language of the whole
world, and from there Yahweh scattered them all over the world."
According to what the Book of Genesis tells us, the diversity of peoples and languages
is the result of a collective sin, the sin of pride, like that of the first parents.
So, we can say that this Gift or Charism is the manifestation of the unity that God wants
to restore with man, and among men, in His Divine Will; unity that sin broke, and that
can only be restored by the Holy Spirit, in Jesus Christ our Savior.
God wants to carry out this work, through His Church, and the Holy Spirit is the great
protagonist, because in reality the time of the Church is always the time of the Holy Spirit.
In the prayer that our Lord raises to the Father before beginning His passion
He says to Him: "Holy Father, take care in Your name of those You have given
Me, so that they may be one like us.
I do not pray only for these, but also for those who, through their word, will believe
in Me, so that they may all be one.
Like You, Father, in Me and I in You, may they also be one in us, so that the world
believes that You sent Me."
For this reason, before His ascension to Heaven, our Lord told His apostles in the book of
Luke chapter 24 verse 49, "And now I am sending upon you what the Father has promised."
which is the Holy Spirit, and adds, "Stay in the city, then, until you are clothed with
the power from on high.", that is, until you receive the Holy Spirit, and He begins to
carry out this work of restoring the unity of man with God and the unity among men, through
the church.
The Catechism of the Catholic church in number #688 teaches us that the Church is the place
where we can meet the Holy Spirit, in the Sacred Scriptures that He has inspired, in
the Magisterium of the Church that He assists, in the Sacramental Liturgy where He puts us
in Communion with Christ, in the witness of the Saints where He manifests His Holiness
and continues the work of salvation, and also in prayer in which He intercedes for us and
the charisms through which the Church is built.
For all this, today, beyond the diversity of languages that exist, when a charismatic
community of the Catholic Church, that is, of the universal Church, whatever its geographical
location, unites in prayer, the Holy Spirit becomes present through this Gift or Charism,
to manifest the unity of the Church in Him.
The Gift of Tongues manifests itself in two ways, Xenoglossy and Glossolalia.
Xenoglossy is the charism that gives the ability to speak in tongues without having previously
studied or learned them, and which are unknown to the speaker.
This phenomenon implies both the knowledge of the language, as well as the oral use,
reading and writing of the unknown language, and is fully understood by the person who
speaks it.
A great example of this we see in the life of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, who was able
to speak and write in languages that he did not know.
In the video "The Guardian Angel and Saint Padre Pio | Part 2" on our 99 Catholics Channel
Father Ruggero affirms that one day five Austrians showed up who wanted to confess to Padre Pio
despite not knowing a word of Italian.
He thought that Padre Pio would reject them for not understanding them.
But when the first one left, he came out laughing and the others also came out with great joy.
I asked Padre Pio a few days later how he had managed to hear the confessions of the
five Austrians, who did not know Italian, and he replied: "When I want to, I understand
everything".
Glossolalia is the charism that makes the person emit incomprehensible words or sounds,
that is to say, that in a rational way they cannot be understood.
It is an exceptional language that embraces the human world and the celestial world, and
that requires an interpretation that, like Him, is of divine origin.
An Idiom means a manner of speaking, a mode of expression peculiar to a language which
the members of a human community communicate, while language means a body of words, and
set of methods of combining them, called a grammar of a people or nation.
So, applying these concepts to Glossolalia, and following what Saint Paul tells us in
his first letter to the Corinthians chapter 13 verse 1, "Though I command languages both
human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing."
Where he speaks of a language of angels, we can say that Glossolalia is the language of
Heaven, the language through which we can have the most intimate communication with
God, through the Holy Spirit.
Saint Paul tells us: "And as well as this, the Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness,
for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions
for us in groans that cannot be put into words;"
The "prohibition" stated by Saint Paul to speak in tongues in assemblies,
without someone to interpret them
is justified by the nature of community meetings, which with the
help of the Holy Spirit, His Gifts and their Charisms, seek to build up the community.
Now, in the meetings of the charismatic groups that exist today, prayer and singing in tongues
is heard, even without performing the respective interpretation.
But, even manifesting in this way, the indication of Saint Paul is not unknown, because prayer
in tongues is recognized as "a way of the Holy Spirit to build up the community, to
manifest His presence", and a potential sign that serves as a "call to how many are in
search of the truth "
When hearing others pray in tongues, you do not understand what is being said.
In some people this prayer in tongues causes tears so they cry.
In other people it causes a deep peace that they enjoy.
In other people it causes restlessness and they want to scream, so they bring out that
aggressiveness if they have it in their hearts.
As we have mentioned, God wants to fully restore unity with man, and among men.
From what we could say, Glossolalia is a sign of the unity that God wants to restore with man.
And Xenoglossy is a sign of the unity in Him, in His Holy Spirit, that God wants to restore
among men.
Finally, and above all, it is necessary to bear in mind that Love is, and always will
be, the greatest of all Gifts.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.