Next weekend, 57 children will be receiving their first Holy Communion. What a gift for them to be receiving Jesus, our Good Shepherd, in the Eucharist for the very first time! Please pray for them and their families!
This weekend we hear Jesus remind us that His sheep hear His voice. Interestingly, Mary Magdalene stood outside Jesus’ tomb weeping, and while she does not recognize Him visually, she recognizes His voice. Hearing her name, “Mary,” she recognizes the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Recognizing God’s voice is one of the great challenges today. Fairly regularly, people ask themselves, “When praying or discerning something, how do I recognize God’s voice?” How do I know whether it is God’s voice, my voice, or the voice of the evil one?
A few preliminary comments are helpful before providing some principles. First, you must be a person of prayer and be comfortable with silence to hear God’s voice. If your day is surrounded by noise, it is nearly impossible to hear God’s voice. There are too many other voices competing for your attention. During Lent, I cut back significantly on watching the news via television and the Internet except on Sundays. It was amazing how much easier it was to hear God’s voice when other voices were quieted! God’s voice is often gentle and subtle. Think of how the Lord whispered to Elijah when he was on the mountain. Daily prayer and time for silence provide the “space” or structure for God to reach you.
Second, God speaks through Sacred Scripture, the Church, and the Tradition of the Church. These three make up the “living voice” of Jesus today. We refer to Sacred Scripture, Apostolic Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church as public revelation. What we receive from God in personal prayer is called private revelation. God cannot contradict Himself, so whatever He reveals to you in personal prayer will be consistent with what He has revealed publicly through the Church.
Now let’s look at a couple of principles for discerning God’s voice. Here is the first: Look at the overall direction of your life. Are you moving away from the Lord or toward Him? God tends to speak in a consistent way depending on the direction of your life. For those moving away from the Lord, the evil one tends to present apparent pleasures to keep them moving along in that direction.
God, on the other hand, tends to sting and bite the conscience of those moving away from Him. He wants them to turn around. I know this personally well. When I was in my teens, I drifted away from the Lord. There was a feeling of emptiness and guilt in my heart. The Lord tried to get my attention to draw me back to Him.
For those moving toward the Lord, the opposite is true. The evil one does not like this movement, so he stings, bites, and places obstacles in their path so that they may not go forward. There was a saying in the seminary, “If the evil one cannot keep you away from the Lord, he will try to make your life miserable in the Lord.” God, on the other hand, consoles, comforts, and removes obstacles for those moving toward Him.
The first principle, then, is to look at the overall direction of your life. For those moving away from God, He stings and bites the conscience so that they turn around. For those moving toward God, He consoles and encourages them.
The second principle helps you discern between two different goods. For example, a mother has two job offers and needs to figure out which one to take. A student discerns which college to attend. A young girl discerns a vocation: marriage or religious life? Or a family discerns whether it is the right time to get a puppy. Those moving toward God want to know His will.
When discerning between different goods, know that God can speak to you in many ways: a still small voice (locution), a song in your head, a memory, through an image, a Scriptural passage, or sometimes just a deep sense of peace. God knows you perfectly and will speak to you in a way that will touch your heart most deeply.
Additionally, when discerning between goods, or the timing of something, pay close attention to your thoughts/heart over an extended amount of time. What brings peace? What causes unrest? The former is typically from God, while the latter is not. In short, pay attention to your thoughts/heart over time and what brings you peace, joy, life, and rest. These are “fruits” from the Lord and meant to encourage you!
Regardless, as they say in sports, practice, practice, practice. The same is true in hearing Jesus’ voice. Practice each day in prayer, and ask others – a spiritual director, friend, family member, or priest – to help you discern God’s voice. Ultimately, God knows you by name and, it is responding to His voice that you will have life and have it more abundantly. ~St. Thérèse, pray for us!