How does one learn to hear a voice that does not shout?
This is my present puzzle.
For there are many voices at The Glenn: the wind, the dogs, the sheep, the occasional mechanical protest of something breaking at precisely the wrong moment.
And yet none of these is quite the voice I am meant to follow.
Joshua Correa, in his steady and soldierly way, suggests that the answer is perseverance.
Revised Standard Version (RSV) translation New Testament: • Luke 11:2-4 • Luke 11:9-13 • James 1:12 Old Testament: • Psalm 139:1-12 Catechism of the Catholic Church: • Paragraph 2766 Takeaways: • The Gospel and Psalm show God’s deep love and remind us to persevere confidently in prayer. • Nothing can hide us from God…even darkness is light to Him. Turning to Him brings joy, because He patiently waits for us. • Jesus teaches the perfect prayer in the “Our Father,” showing that God gives good gifts to those who persevere through life’s trials. • Even if you feel distant because of past choices, God’s love is greater than your mistakes; He is waiting for you to return to Him.
Which is not nearly as romantic as revelation, but is infinitely more reliable.
So I have constructed what I grandly call a “rule of life”— which, like most of my rules, is followed imperfectly but maintained stubbornly.
Prayer. Work. Sacred reading.
Daily Mass, when I can. The Hours, when I remember. The Rosary, when I slow down.
Manual labor—which has a way of silencing foolish thoughts by replacing them with blisters.
And Lectio Divina—which has a way of replacing blisters with meaning.
Yesterday I spent a considerable amount of time in a hole— which is to say, I was digging through mud in pursuit of a water leak.
There is nothing quite so clarifying as mud.
It removes illusion. It simplifies priorities. It insists on presence.
And there, covered in dirt, I realized something rather obvious:
The Shepherd’s voice is not something I hear instead of life— but within it.
Not apart from the rule— but through it.
For perseverance is not merely repetition— it is relationship sustained over time.
And perhaps the most comforting thought of all is this:
If the sheep hear His voice, it is not because they are brilliant— but because they are near.
3. Oratio
Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, whose voice is both gentle and unyielding—
teach me to listen.
There are many sounds that fill my days, many urgencies that demand my attention, many distractions that mimic importance.
Give me perseverance in the small things: in prayer that feels dry, in work that feels endless, in reading that feels slow.
For I know that it is not in sudden clarity, but in steady faithfulness, that I come to recognize You.
Let me remain close enough to hear, quiet enough to notice, and willing enough to follow.
Amen.
4. Contemplatio (Chestertonian synthesis)
There is a curious consistency among the saints:
They hear what others miss—not because the voice is louder, but because their lives are quieter.
Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort listened so intently to the voice of God that he gave his entire life to proclaiming devotion to Christ through Mary—a voice within a voice, one might say, echoing obedience.
Saint Peter Chanel heard the call to preach in distant lands, where his voice was ultimately silenced by violence—yet it was precisely then that it became unmistakable.
The louder the world becomes, the more quietly God speaks.
And yet, it is this quiet voice that moves mountains, converts hearts, and leads sheep across entire continents.
For the voice of the Shepherd is not an argument— it is an invitation.
And those who follow it do not always understand where they are going— but they always know who they are following.
5. Actio — In Light of Laudato Si’ and Synodality
“What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground” (Gen 4:9-11). Disregard for the duty to cultivate and maintain a proper relationship with my neighbour, for whose care and custody I am responsible, ruins my relationship with my own self, with others, with God and with the earth.
