Discernment: Recognizing the Voice of God

In Prayer: Our Deepest Longing,  Rev. Ronald Rolheiser, looks at the world in which we live,  a world that bombards us with  noise. Every moment someone/something is calling out to us. Some of those voices are soothing, comforting, challenging, threatening. Some voices calls us into bitterness, hatred; they are hostile voices. Some voices challenge us toward forgiving others and ourselves, loving and caring for others and ourselves. Some voices lead us to humor while others are urgent, heavy, and, yes, even scary.

We know that God is the author of all good and that His voice is not in evil or in the non-good. God's voice is inside of everything that is good and so is in things that are of religion and not of religion.

How do we recognize the voice of God? By training ourselves to hear God's voice, just as a shepherd trains his/her sheep to recognize his/her voice apart from the  voices of other shepherds/shepherdesses.

God's voice, the Scriptures tell us, is recognized in:

• Whispers
• Thunder
• Storms
• The invitation to do good, to develop the best versions of ourselves, to forgive ourselves and others
• That which stretches us, challenges us
• That which ultimately comforts us and brings us to inner peace
• The poor, the oppressed, the marginalized of this world
• The artist and the scholars of this world
• That which invites us to transcend our fears
• That which inspires us to a holy reverence, a holy fear
• Suffering united to the sufferings of Christ
• Genuine enjoyment
• Gratitude
• Paradox
• Mystery

 "The voice of God...is the voice of someone who knows us intimately and calls us by name."

Source: Rolheiser, Ronald, Prayer: Our Deepest Longing, Franciscan Media, 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202,  p. 15-17.