Isn’t this a beautiful phrase?  What exactly is the tongue of angels, and how do we receive this gift?  According to 2 Nephi 31:13 we learn that when we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, we will be able to “speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.”  Well, I have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, but I don’t feel I speak with that heavenly tongue very often.

In 2 Nephi 32:3, we are told that “angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ.”  In verse 4, we are given a great tip:  “if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock:”  So, now I know, I’m not working hard enough to receive this gift.

In one of the first meetings of the Relief Society in Nauvoo, Joseph Smith told the sisters that we (females) have been given the Charity Gene (my words, not his).  It is in our DNA.  By using this innate gift, we will be living up to our privileges.  And by living up to these privileges, “the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates”.  It is through innocence, standing before God, being pure, that we can mingle with heaven.  Surely then, our communion will be as the angels.

Joseph continues that only then will we have power to command Queens among us.  The power is a godly power to be spread by our purity, our righteousness, and our personal connection with the Holy Ghost.

Boyd K. Packer said, “Nephi explained that angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, and you can speak with the tongue of angels, which simply means that you can speak with the power of the Holy Ghost. It will be quiet. It will be invisible. There will not be a dove. There will not be cloven tongues of fire. But the power will be there.  Remember what Joseph Smith said: ‘You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half—that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.’”

So, each of us who has been baptized AND had hands laid upon our heads, and been confirmed, have been given this power.  Our job is to realize this power, learn about it, practice it, seek to use it for good, seek to use it regularly, always strive for purity, humility, and righteousness, and we will speak with the tongue of angels.  Maybe we have already, and not even realized it.

In 2007, Elder Holland gave a tender talk on bridling our tongue.  He warned women, especially:

“Wives, what of the unbridled tongue in your mouth, of the power for good or ill in your words? How is it that such a lovely voice which by divine nature is so angelic, so close to the veil, so instinctively gentle and inherently kind could ever in a turn be so shrill, so biting, so acrid and untamed? A woman’s words can be more piercing than any dagger ever forged, and they can drive the people they love to retreat beyond a barrier more distant than anyone in the beginning of that exchange could ever have imagined. Sisters, there is no place in that magnificent spirit of yours for acerbic or abrasive expression of any kind, including gossip or backbiting or catty remarks… Speak(ing) with a new tongue, the tongue of angels. Our words, like our deeds, should be filled with faith and hope and charity, the three great Christian imperatives so desperately needed in the world today.”

If you’ll recall, last summer, we had a lesson about the origins of our organization.  Half the lesson discussed the necessity for women to control their tongues, that the Spirit might stay among us.

Our early sisters must have grasped this concept and run with it.  Bathsheba Smith told the sisters of the Pioneer Stake that Joseph Smith gave “the sisters instructions that they could administer to the sick and he wanted to make us, as the women were in Paul’s day, “A kingdom of priestesses.  We have the ceremony in our endowments as Joseph taught.”

We have a record, throughout our history, of women healing others through a blessing and the laying on of hands.  Clearly, the women were given this privilege at that time.  Was this how the “tongue of angels” was manifest for them at that time?  Is the “tongue of angels” manifest for us in different ways in our day?

We don’t have to be concerned about HOW Jesus Christ lays out His gospel; He is in charge.  What we do have to concern ourselves with is our worthiness.  The blessings will come in their own due time.  We can have comfort in the knowledge that our Savior speaks to each one of us through the power of the Holy Ghost.  We must learn to recognize the Spirit in our own lives, and only then can we proclaim His goodness with the tongue of angels.

Information taken from:

Minutes of the Nauvoo Relief Society, Apr. 28, 1842

“The Gift of the Holy Ghost: What Every Member Should Know”, Pres. Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Aug. 2006

“The Tongue of Angels”, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, May 2007

Pres. Bathsheba Smith, speaking at a Pioneer Stake Relief Society Conference, printed in the Women’s Exponent, Jul-Aug 1905, p. 14.

*Many stories of women hearing the angels sing, and performing healings, can be found in the article, “Temple Workers”, The Young Woman’s Journal, Apr. 1893, p, 289.