Jesus tells us that he is the “Good Shepherd.” How do we discern the shepherd’s voice from the many voices we encounter every day? Some voices invite us in, promising us life if we do this or that or buy a particular product or idea; others threaten us. Some voices beckon us towards hate, bitterness, and anger, while others challenge us towards love, graciousness, and forgiveness. Some voices tell us that they are playful and humorous, not to be taken seriously, even as others trumpet that they are urgent and weighty, the voice of non-negotiable truth, God’s voice. Fr. Ron Rolheiser asks us, “Within all of these, which is the voice of God?” He tells us there’s no easy answer; sometimes, the best we can do is trust our gut feeling about right and wrong. However, we have a number of principles that come to us from Jesus, scripture, and the deep wells of our Christian tradition that can help us. What follows is a series of principles to help us discern God’s voice among the multitude of voices that beckon us:
The voice of God is recognized in whispers and soft tones, as well as in thunder and lightning.
The voice of God is recognized wherever one sees life, joy, health, color, and humor, even as it is recognized wherever one sees dying, suffering, conscripted poverty, and a beaten-down spirit.
The voice of God is recognized in what calls us to what’s higher, sets us apart, and invites us to holiness, even as it is recognized in what calls us to humility, submergence into humanity, and in that which refuses to denigrate our humanity.
The voice of God is recognized in what appears in our lives as “foreign,” as other, as “stranger,” even as it is recognized in the voice that beckons us home.
The voice of God is the one that most challenges and stretches us, yet it is also the only voice that ultimately soothes and comforts us.
The voice of God enters our lives as the greatest of all powers, even as it forever lies in vulnerability, like a helpless baby in the straw.
The voice of God is always heard in a privileged way in the poor, even as it beckons us through the voice of the artist and the intellectual.
The voice of God always invites us to live beyond all fear, even as it inspires holy fear.
The voice of God is heard inside the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even as it invites us never to deny the complexities of our world and our own lives.
The voice of God is always heard wherever there is genuine enjoyment and gratitude, even as it asks us to deny ourselves, die to ourselves, and freely relativize all the things of this world.
The voice of God, it would seem, is forever found in paradox.