The Voice

My dear friend, Norah, moved to Connecticut about 30 years ago and she and I have kept in touch via snail mail for many of those years, and now mostly through texting. I’ve been writing to her since I was 18 years old and if she were to have saved all my letters, the collection of them might indeed make quite the telling autobiography. There is no doubt that I express myself most effectively, most authentically, most intimately, and most eloquently through writing. There are times, however, more recently and frequently than ever, when I simply need to hear Norah’s voice and writing or texting just doesn’t cut it, so I will pick up the phone and actually call. The split second that we heareach other is an anointed moment that literally melts the heart. Hearing someone’s voice, especially once they’ve been gone from your daily life is powerful and sometimes even breath taking. 

My grandpa died around Thanksgiving and when we were decorating for Christmas that year we came across one of those ornaments that recorded a message. I remember pressing the button and hearing grandpa’s voice for the first time since he died actually dropped me to my knees. I felt his presence in the room with me immediately and I could even smell his cologne. One sound of his voice reunited our spirits. The senses are powerful ways for us to connect to one another. 

Jesus talks about this in today’s gospel, “The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.” I often meditate on things like: What did Jesus’ voice sound like? Did he have an infectious laugh? When he sang in synagogue, did people get goose bumps? Was he a tenor or a baritone or a bass? Did he speak to the apostles differently and in more intimate tones than with the general population? Did his friends and disciples (and even his enemies) remember the sound of his voice after he died? What a special gift that must have been to have known what their Savior sounded like, sang like, laughed like, cried like, whispered like. Obviously, we don’t have the same privilege of actually hearing him speak, but that does not mean that we are not his sheep and that we do know what he sounds like:

·     When a baby cries out

·     When a songbird calls

·     When your beloved tells you you’re beautiful

·     When your best friend laughs

·     When a room full of faithful hearts sing praise

·     When someone says, “I forgive you” 

·     When a dear friend whispers a blessing in your ear

·     When the wind dances through the trees

·     When a wave caresses the shore

·     When your long lost friend picks up the phone

These tender whispers are The Voice of our Shepherd, gently drawing us into his embrace so that we can follow wherever he leads. Let’s pay attention to The Voice in our lives so that we can live this promise: 

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

It is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 ACTS 11:1-18

The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea
heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God. 
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem
the circumcised believers confronted him, saying,
'You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them." 
Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying,
"I was at prayer in the city of Joppa
when in a trance I had a vision,
something resembling a large sheet coming down,
lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me. 
Looking intently into it,
I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth,
the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. 
I also heard a voice say to me, 'Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.' 
But I said, 'Certainly not, sir,
because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' 
But a second time a voice from heaven answered,
'What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.' 
This happened three times,
and then everything was drawn up again into the sky.
Just then three men appeared at the house where we were,
who had been sent to me from Caesarea. 
The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating. 
These six brothers also went with me,
and we entered the man's house. 
He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying,
'Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,
who will speak words to you 
by which you and all your household will be saved.' 
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them
as it had upon us at the beginning,
and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said,
'John baptized with water
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 
If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us
when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I to be able to hinder God?"
When they heard this,
they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying,
"God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too."

Responsorial Psalm PS 42:2-3; 43:3, 4

R.(see 3a) Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia JN 10:14

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel JN 10:1-10

Jesus said:
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."