Who's Voice do I hear ...
... and What Is That Voice Saying?
I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,
...
“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.” John 10:
In Jesus time, it
was the practice for shepherds to coral several flocks into a single sheepfold
over night for their protection and safety. In the morning, a shepherd would
come to the gate, call out to the sheep, and only his sheep would come out and
follow him. Such was the recognition and influence of the shepherd's voice.
Knowing this gives us insight into why Jesus chose to use it as an image of his
influence in our lives. To be a follower of Christ, we must have His Voice
imprinted on our hearts.
This imprinting
happens through our reflective, meditative prayer. When the Lord speaks, it has
a positive effect on our hearts. When it is not the Lord's voice we are
hearing, its effect is negative. In our previous Post, we discussed identifying
these movements of our hearts as we prayed. In this Post, we will look at
identifying and naming the specific things that are attached to the different
movements of heart we feel.
This is
particularly helpful in matters having to do with choices. Here is an example
of what I mean.
Supposing a friend
invites you to spend a week with them at their new summer home. You are
delighted with the invitation, especially since you are desperately in need of
a break. You are about to accept when you remember, that it is the same week
you promised another friend, that you would help them with some much needed
renovations at their house. Both are good propositions; and after some thought,
you decide to beg off helping your friend in favour of taking the week at the
summer home.
But, having made
this choice makes you feel conflicted. You feel sad for turning down a friend
in need. What to do?
Now, a third
friend calls you to commend you for offering to help your friend in need. They
remark how kind and generous you are, especially since your friend could not
possibly have done the work without you. This makes you feel very positive
about yourself. So you reconsider your decision and choose to decline the
holiday in favour of helping your friend in need.
That call from the
third friend is likened to the Lord's Voice in prayer. Having been presented
with choices, you make a decision. Now you take your decision to prayer. You
stack your decision up against the images, examples and thoughts you see as you
pray the scriptures. This sheds new light on the process that lead to your
decision. In the light of the "grace of prayer", ether a confirmation
or a rethinking of your choice emerges. Like the friend's voice in our example,
the Voice of the Lord will lead you to a better choice, confirmed by its
positive thoughts and feeling.
We can rationalize
ourselves into all manner of choices. But there is no deceiving the Lord. A
heart sincere and open to listening in prayer, will hear the Good Shepherd's
voice. If your choice is a bad one you will want to move away from it. If it is
a good one, it will draw you closer to the Lord.
For a more
complete and comprehensive treatment of this subject, prayer and choosing,
visit the Ignatian Spirituality Site.
"The sheep of
the shepherd hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them
out."
No comments:
Post a Comment