Listen to His Voice

When I read the last line of this week’s Gospel John 18: 33-37 ‘Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice’ I reflected on how His Voice came to me 10years ago. It was 10years ago at a wedding reception, that a close friend, a priest, and now a Bishop, asked my wife for me to consider putting forward my name as a possible candidate for the vocation of the permanent diaconate.

I was 59years old at the time. In January, I will turn 69years. That casual request at a banquet, His Voice, has dramatically changed my life in those ensuing years. If someone had told me, back then, I would be a Deacon and Pastor to a parish at 69years, I would have found it hard to believe. This was not even on my radar.

That’s the way with His Voice - we never know how it would be spoken, when we would hear it and what it would say to us. Yet, when we open our hearts to listen, His Voice leads us to paths we could never imagine for ourselves. It calls us out of our comfort zones, challenges our preconceived plans, and beckons us toward a life of deeper purpose and service.

Looking back, I see how that moment at the banquet was not just an invitation from a friend but a profound calling from God. His Voice stirred something within me, setting me on a journey that has transformed not only my life but also the lives of those I have been blessed to serve.

Today there are many voices. Each one claiming to be His Voice, pulling us this way and that. In the era of synodality, it requires us to listen. But it calls for discernment, not every voice is His Voice.

Discernment demands prayer, humility, and a willingness to seek the truth in communion with the Church. It means pausing amidst the noise to truly listen—not just with our ears but with our hearts, aligning ourselves with the teachings of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

His Voice has led me to significantly change my daily work, dramatically reducing my income, trusting that He will see us through. It is His Voice that has led me to be a spiritual writer.

Friend, as we enter the Advent season and then the joy of the Christ Child, what is His Voice saying to you? What radical change is His Voice calling you to make? I pray that you will have the courage to say ‘Yes, send me!’

Thank you to those who have supported us on this journey. It has been a roller coaster ride, scary at times but filled with joy. This weekend, we launch our weekly Radio Show, Voices of Hope, on Spotify. I will be sending you a link to the premier on Saturday… Look out for it!

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