Ora Pro Nobis¶
Why Pray in Multiple Languages?¶
St. Augustine
Each single believer was speaking in all languages; and now the unity of believers is speaking in all languages. And so even now all languages are ours, since we are members of the body in which they are to be found.
At Pentecost the Holy Spirit reversed the confusion of Babel. Languages that once divided humanity through pride now serve the one Gospel, proclaimed and prayed in every tongue.
When we pray in different languages, we join the universal Church that speaks in all languages. Each tongue opens new depths of devotion and understanding, enriching our souls and drawing us more fully into the communion of saints who contemplate the mysteries of Christ across every culture and people.
St. John Chrysostom
As in the time of building the tower the one tongue was divided into many; so then the many tongues frequently met in one man, and the same person used to discourse both in the Persian, and the Roman, and the Indian, and many other tongues, the Spirit sounding within him.