Pentecost Sunday (John 20:19-23)
Pentecost, the day, the world became one, one spirit, one body, one family whose head is Jesus Christ!
Seeing my yawning face and puffy eyes on a winter cold morning, you enthusiastically greet me, “G’day, mate!”
“Hah?” My lackadaisical mood is quickly changed. I no longer appear lethargic, but instantly wake up, and panickly react, “What do you mean…MATE???”, for where I come from, I’m sorry to say, “mate” surely denotes something intimate, very intimate… We speak of a mating season, for instance.
“Really? So, tell me! How do you greet people in the morning?”, you ask.
"In a normal situation, I would say, ‘Good morning! How are you?’ Or casually, ‘What’s up, dude?’ with my Afro-American friends, if I am in Chicago.”
I pause for a moment, carefully observe the movement of the muscles on your face and agilely measure the situation, then confidently continue,
“Or I would say, ‘Ăn chưa? Have you eaten yet?’, if I am in Vietnam, and “Werte, iwenhe aperte? G’day, what’s up?” if I approach an Arrernte Catholic in Alice Springs, Santa Teresa or Harts Range or Yuendumu.”
“Well!” You’re obviously confused, focusing on only one dish from the table of plenty! And you say, "Tell me more! Why 'Ăn ch… chưa?' in Vietnam,” you attempt to imitate my Northern Vietnamese accent while saying, “Ăn chưa?”.
I say, "Why? Hiểu chết liền!"
"Hah? What does it mean, 'Hiểu chết liền?'" with a flummoxed voice, you ask.
I fashion my response to your query, “Well, if you really want to know its meaning, 'Welcome to Vietnam.' The airfare tickets are relatively cheap, and even half the price if JetStar offers on sale tickets.”
Time for a morning break eventually comes.
You drop by my office, inviting, “Hey Dude! Tea break!”.
I roll my eyes, wondering for one minute what you mean by “Tea Break.”
But quickly, I get the meaning of the colloquial expression. I correct you, “You mean ‘Coffee break?’”
Your turn to be confused, “Hah? No, I said ‘Tea break’.”
I give up. I shrug my shoulder, “Whatever!”
We then complain, “Why don’t we all speak the same language?” Then we both stop, full stop, for, you and me, we both speak English, but we employ different words for the same functions. In the US, we call them sweaters. Down Under, you mean jumpers. We say, 'Biscuits'-They say 'Cookies.'"
You-laugh-out-loud and this triggers my mood to share, “You know what... Once I was in a physician’s office for an annual check-up. She asked me to take off my jumper… 'Jumper? What do you mean? I have no jumper on me. Do you want me…take off something else… I was talking to myself, of course!' The physician eventually could tell I did not grasp what she meant by jumper. Perhaps, she thought this bloke did not speak English. She pointed at her sweater, saying, 'This… This… Take it off! Out, out!' I almost wanted to burst out laughing. 'This… you call this…a jumper!' I shook my head while pointing to my sweater, speaking English with a Vietnamese Yankee accent '… In the US, we call this a sweater.'”
Having listened to my story so far, you, a committed, faithful and very traditional Catholic, in turn continue the discussion,
“It is because of the Tower of Babel; otherwise, we would all now speak the same language. The Babel Tower is the nemesis of our confusions, the cause of the many languages in the world.”
I answer, “Are you serious? It is because of the Babel Tower (Genesis 11), we are now punished by a plurality of languages?”
You say, “Go to your book shelf, pick up the Bible. Please read it. Genesis, Chapter 11, verses 1 to…”
I see.
You keep one finger on that page while moving to another page, inviting me, “Once more. Please, read.”
I say, “What is it?”
And you say, “What else! The story of Pentecost, the first Pentecost of the church.” And you spell it out, “The day the church was born.”
“Yes, so what?”, I act indifferently.
You stare at me, actually you give me a disbelieving look,
“Are you Catholic? When did you convert to Catholicism? Read it. When the Holy Spirit descends upon the head of Peter, he stands up, speaking his language, Aramaic, to the crowd of thousands (?). And amazingly, people of different languages all understand the extemporaneous sermon delivered by the former fisherman, Peter.”
And you conclude, “The Holy Spirit truly dispels the curse of the Babel Tower.”
“Amen.” I jokingly respond to the theological comparison of the two Bible accounts.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The earth is vast with many nations, cultures, and souls (at present 7 billion).
Currently the earth consists of five continents, Africa, Asia, Europe, America (North and South), and Australia (Who knows how many continents the earth will have in the future, for the earth is still evolving...).
Five continents, vast cultures, multiple languages.
I love listening to Chinese Mandarin, it carries a distinct sound to my ears like the sound of a gold bell ringing.
I love English (either British English, or Yankee English, or Aussie English, or Irish English) with the upbeat sounds which disclose an energetic culture.
I love Vietnamese, for it is the language that my mother used excitedly as she burst into tears welcoming me at that very moment when I was delivered from heaven to earth, the language of the many lullabies with which my mom lulled me to sleep.
I love the Arrernte sound (the language of the Alice Springs Aboriginals), “Werte! Iwenhe aperte? Mwerre anthurre/Hi! What’s up? Are you ok?” the language with many ah! ah! ah! sounds, the language of the dear and cherished sheep whom I, the shepherd (I hope I am a good one), was leading to God.
I love the language of heaven, the language of love, spelt out in human form by God’s Son through the mystery of the Incarnation.
Many languages, many cultures, many souls, but one Spirit, the spirit of love, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of caring and of loving.
Many languages, many cultures, many souls. I love them all.
Many languages, many cultures, many souls that became one on the day the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven upon the heads of Jesus’ disciples.
Pentecost, the day, the world became one, one spirit, one body, one family whose head is Jesus Christ!