Which Voice are You Following?
Deacon Angelo Volpi’s homily
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A.
Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 23: 1-3a, 3b4, 5, 6; 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10
INTRO
Good afternoon!
What a rich gospel that we have today! There is a lot going on - we have sheep, the gate, the gatekeeper, the sheppard, the robber.
As I prayed about this passage in preparation for this homily what kept coming to my mind was the desire to RECOGNIZE THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD.
How much do I desire that! Being able to always discern the voice of the Lord from all the other misleading voices.
Do you long for this gift to recognize the voice of God, like the sheep that recognize their shepherd?
As Christians we are invited to recognize God’s voice.
What helps YOU recognize the voice of God in your life?
ME
I will start with a story. A few weeks ago while driving my daughter to school she said, “Dad, do you hear the words of this song on the radio?” I said, “Not really.” She replied, “He is singing about how he recognized the voice of the devil and turned his life toward God. His name is Jelly Roll.”
Now she had my ATTENTION - so I asked her to find this song on Spotify so I could hear it again. As I listened more carefully to the lyrics I was struck on how the artist was able to recognize that the voices in his head that were NOT from God and he rejected them.
Those voices came from the “Liar”, the enemy, the devil. Here is one of the verses:
I let you drive around my mind
I can't count the times you made me feel like I am nothin'
Played me like a fool, Saying, "Drink another whiskey
Pop another pill
Money makes you happy
Heaven isn't real
You won't find anyone to love. Because your heart's too broke"
And then he said in the song:
Now I know you ain't nothing BUT A LIAR!
This is powerful; he named the song The Lair. The voice of the enemy can come like this in our thoughts - like a bunch of lies. When we become aware of these lies - we SHOULD NOT keep them in our head - WE REJECT them. It may be as simple as praying “Come Holy Spirit!" or “I reject this lie in the name of Jesus.”
There is one more complication. If the enemy cannot get us into something wrong in this way, he will change his tactics. When in front of some GOOD choices he will try to convince us to take the lesser of the good choices. Let me give you an example.
A family with kids goes on vacation to the beach and as Sunday approaches the thought of going to church comes to mind. The enemy will try to distort this HIGHER GOOD by whispering - “you are on vacation and having some great family time, don’t worry about going to church. You will lose so many hours of beach and family time. It is ok to miss mass this time, you will go to church next Sunday!”
The Lord's voice is reminding us - Sunday is approaching, it is the day to honor God and worship Him, make plans! While the enemy, instead, is twisting the truth with another thing that looks good but is the LESSER of the two goods.
Going to church is a higher good than spending time with the family on the beach.
YOU
So, let me ask you:
In your daily life can you recognize the voice of the Shepherd, the VOICE OF GOD, among the voices of the thieves and robbers?
GOD
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells that there are shepherds and robbers coming in the sheepfold. The Shepherd comes into the sheepfold through the truth and light of Jesus Christ. The voice of the Shepherd always invites us to the highest truth or good.
The robbers, on the other hand, come into the sheepfold through deception, climbing the fence at night, and silently sneaking in. The robber's voice always invites us to sin or to a lesser good.
THE GOOD NEWS IS that Jesus tells us that the sheep in the parable can recognize the Sheppard’s voice and reject the robber’s voice and they follow the Shepherd in the highest way.
We are the sheep - and this morning you choose to follow the shepherd's voice to come to church. YOUR FEET DON’T LIE - whether you wanted to come to mass or it felt like a chore, you are here. You heard the voice of the shepherd and followed it!
The sheep can recognize the shepherd's voice among many other voices because they know the shepherd’s voice very well. They have spent so much time with the shepherd that his voice cannot be confused among others. A few verses after this gospel passage Jesus clearly said, “the sheep know me.”
I heard a story that the branch of the police in charge of identifying fake money learns how to do it by spending countless time with true money. The texture, the color, the size, even the smell of the true money becomes so familiar to them that when they come across a fake bill they have no doubt.
YOU
How much time do you spend with the Lord during the week? The more time we spend in prayer, adoration, mass, reflecting on scriptures, discerning the voices in our heart, the easier it will become to recognize God's voice among the false voices. It requires paying attention to what is happening inside us. Here is how to recognize the shepherd’s voice. It will always lead us to an increase of Faith, Hope and Love. To be more Faithful, more Loving, more Hopeful. Anything you hear that diminishes Faith, Hope and Love is not from God.
WE
I want to leave you with two invitations. The first one is to consider spending more time with the Lord. Choose the way that is easier for you - maybe going to daily mass, maybe five minutes in prayer each day, maybe seeking the help of a spiritual director to help you grow in a deeper relationship with God and to become better at hearing his voice.The second invitation is to pay DEEPER ATTENTION to your thoughts,desires and residences. Because,
Truth is not always what APPEARS to be obvious.
Rather - truth comes from deeper discernment of our thoughts, desires and feelings. Take the time to discern RATHER than reacting right away and you will start living like the sheep that follows the voice of the shepherd.
And this path is what leads us to life - not just life, but LIFE IN ABUNDANCE.
