Fourth Sunday of Easter

Reflection on Scripture

In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses the analogy of the shepherd, who protects and guides the sheep to green pastures and allows them to lie down in safety. The sheep know the shepherd’s voice and will not react to the voice of a stranger.

Jesus continues His analogy by telling the people He, and only He, is the gateway to eternal life.

What voices do we listen to in our lives? There is always the voice of self which always wants more of everything we like. The voice that does not bear bad times patiently and the voice that is tuned to our own self centeredness.

Our own internal voice is difficult to tame and uncontrollable if left to its own desires and often, even in prayer, the voice will not be stilled and distracts us constantly. Our internal voice is tuned to self preservation. Our internal voice is concerned about the here and now, past, present, and future, and gives little to no credence in reference to eternal life.

How do we train our minds to listen to God? We need to begin training ourselves to listen with our hearts. The language of God is silence, and He speaks to us in a movement of the Spirit within our hearts and that movement changes us and conforms us.

Our internal voice will not lead us to salvation. Only the voice of the Shepherd will lead us to eternal life. And the more we listen, the more we become like Him growing in the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity. St. Theresa calls this the prayer of quiet, when we cease speaking and listen, emptying ourselves of all earthly desires and seeking first and only the kingdom of God.

Listening to God doesn’t just happen. Listening occurs over time with practice, and a few successes and many failures. However, if we train our hearts to listen and our minds to be still, we will hear His voice and begin to understand everything He has told us.

“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

When we open communication with God through quiet time and prayer, our hearts will be like the hearts of the disciples on the way to Emmaus and we will proclaim, “are not hearts burning within us”. But this will only happen when we subordinate our wants, desires, ambitions, and feelings of the mind and body and open ourselves to the presence of God in our life here, now, and forever.

May God continue to call our names and we respond. “Speak Lord, your servant is listening”.

Deacon Phil