18
diversity and change will only strength
u
s all.
Acts 2:1–8 gives us a beautiful
v
ision of living together, communicat-
ing with different languages. "When
the day of Pentecost had come, they
were all together in one place. And
suddenly from heaven there came a
sound like the rush of a violent wind . .
. . All of them were filled with the
Holy Spirit and began to speak in
other languages, as the Spirit gave
them ability. Now there were devout
Jews from every nation under heaven
living in Jerusalem. And at this sound
the crowd gathered and was bewil-
dered, because each one heard them
speaking in the native language of
each. Amazed and astonished, they
asked, '. . . how is it that we hear, each
of us, in our own native language?'"
The Holy Spirit gave the Apostles
t
he ability to speak in different lan-
guages to bring the Good News to
all the world. We also can learn new
languages in order to to share the
gospel message, to understand more
fully our neighbors near and far and to
enjoy the rich diversity that God cre-
ated all over the world. And we shall
see that all God created was good.
Elba Rico-Morales is Puerto Rican,
a retired attorney, deacon of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a
committed PW.
Notes
1. Ethnologue, "Summary by language size,"
Languages of the World, www.ethnologue.com/
statistics/size.
2. Lisa Winter, "New Study Reveals Most
Influential Languages," IFL Science, December 16,
2014; www.iflscience.com/brain/new-study-
reveals-most-influential-languages.
3. François Grosjean, "Chasing Down Those
65%," Psychology Today blog, November 30, 2014;
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilin-
gual/201411/chasing-down-those-65.
4. "List of Spanish-speaking Countries by
Population," SpanishLinguist.com; www.spanish-
linguist.com/extra/spanish_speaking_countries_w
orld_figures_and_map.html.
5. François Grosjean, "Bilinguals in the United
States," Psychology Today blog, May 20, 2012;
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilin-
gual/201205/bilinguals-in-the-united-states
6. Nic Subtirelu, "Linguistic inequality: Spanish
on the job market," LinguisticPulse.com, February
28, 2015; http://linguisticpulse.com/2015
/02/28/linguistic-inequality-spanish-on-the-
job-market.
7. Tracy Miller, "Being bilingual pushes back
dementia by nearly 5 years: study," New York
Daily News, November 6, 2013; www.nydai-
lynews.com /life-style/health/bilingual-pushes-
back-dementia-5-years-study-article-1.1508740
Read this article in Spanish in Presbyterian Women's May–July 2015 Quarterly Newsletter,
available at www.presbyterianwomen.org.