The Gift of Tongues
I’m not really an “official” apologist for my Catholic faith but I do spend a lot of time both talking to others and listening to other discuss the Catholic faith. Lately, I have been struck by how often a question answer-er simply answers with a statement about his/her own beliefs rather than seeking to match an answer to the beliefs of the person asking the question. So when person A asks how she can approach a friend who is asking “Can God make a rock so big He can’t life it?” Person B says “Well I just say God has no limits.” Or when Person C says “I believe Jesus is really present in the Eucharist but only spiritually otherwise how could He be in so many tabernacles at once.” Person D, with the best of intentions answers with the standard answer about the Real Presence but nary a word about the two natures of Christ.” It’s a trap I personally find it necessary to guard against continually…being so sure I know the question that I begin to answer without meeting the person with the question where he/she actually is. I suppose sometimes, it’s because we don’t know how to answer the question that is being asked. Then we need to ask the Holy Spirit for the humility to say “I don’t know, but I will look it up. I will pray about it. I will ask as many people as I need to, but I will find the answer and get back to you.”
Perhaps though we need to ask the Holy Spirit for the Gift of Tongues. St. Peter and the Apostles spoke to the people in their own language at Pentecost. Why should that gift be limited to only speaking in a foreign langauge? If we aren’t so busy assuming we both understand the question and know the answer we might stop to listen, to pray, and to open ourselves to the working of the Holy Spirit. After all, it’s only the Holy Spirit working through us that effects conversions and when the Holy Spirit is speaking it’s always a gift of Grace. Lord, help me to stay out of the way!
Apologist’s Prayers
Grant, O Lord,
that none may love you less this day because of me;
that never a word or act of mine may turn one soul from thee;
and, ever daring, yet one more grace I would implore:
That many souls this day, because of me, may love thee more.
Amen.
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Lord Jesus,
I give you my hands to do your work.
I give you my feet to go your way.
I give you my eyes to see as you see.
I give you my tongue to speak your words.
I give you my mind to think as you think.
I give you my spirit so that you may pray in me.
I give you myself so that you may grow in me.
So that it is you, Lord, who lives, and works, and prays in me.
Amen.
Prayers from A Pocket Guide to Catholic Apologetics by Patrick Madrid
