"One tongue is enough for a woman" Mother Teresa.

“One tongue is enough for a woman” Mother Teresa.

I had my first powerful experience of the Holy Spirit when I was 17 and a Spanish priest, Fr. Marcellino Iragui prayed that I would receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

I did.

Hey, this was India, and anyway, religion and authoritarianism are always closely linked. So I repeated the prayer for the Holy Spirit after him (I’ve always objected to repeating prayers after people).

When we came to “And Lord, please give me the gift of tongues,” I said, “No, I don’t want that. My father will make fun of me.”

He said, “You can’t pick and choose among the gifts of God.”

And so I prayed. And felt nothing. And felt relieved.

And woke up at night with a sense of overwhelming joy, joy so intense that I was, in fact, close to tears. I praised God in ecstatic, broken, joyful English.

And in a language I hadn’t learned. Tongues! Goodness!

I joined Mother Teresa’s convent a month or two later. And, when I met with her, I asked, “Mother, what do you feel about the gift of tongues?”

She had reached the dangerous age. The age at which one instinctively dismisses new ideas. (Oh dear, I feel that age coming upon me, and am valiantly resisting it!)

She answered, “One tongue is enough for a woman.”

And that was that. I was 17.

Thankfully, the gifts of God are irrevocable, and I pray in tongues today, though not as much as I should.

Sadly, true for both praying. And praying in tongues.

I think I will go and do both right now!!