Right now, in the hallway of the Philadelphia Convention Center, a Vietnamese bishop is holding court, talking over a microphone to roughly 50 Vietnamese faithful in a language I clearly cannot understand, but whose melodic undertone is both beautiful and joy-filled, while 30 feet away a Pakistani Catholic family is sitting on the floor feeding their two toddlers, tickling them and laughing. Just beyond them, an Ecuadorian dad chases his three year-old son, who is quickly on the move to explore his surroundings. As I walk through these moments of grace and family, Father Xavier, OFM, from Zimbabwe, walks up and introduces himself to me because he notices the Tau around my neck. He tells me that he saw the Tau and knew that we share what he calls a “religious energy” in that we are both professed Franciscan, I Third Order Secular and he, Third Order Regular.
There are participants from 100 different countries at this World Meeting of Families. Listening to people in the hallways, I imagine that this is
what Pentecost must have been like – all the diversity of language and customs.
Yet, watching 4 year-olds from very different
cultures, run up to each other and play; it occurs to me that joy transcends
the language barrier – which I suspect was the experience of Pentecost.
As Archbishop Chaput reminded us at Mass yesterday, Philadelphia is referred to as the “City of brotherly love and sisterly affection.” The joy is palpable in Philadelphia. There is a transcendence in this building that truly echoes Jesus’ words in yesterday’s Gospel, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” Lk 8:21.
Photo: Escalator transports World Meeting pilgrims inside the Philadelphia Convention Center.
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