Homily for Wednesday of the 4th Week of Lent

For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/030508.shtml

The time is coming when the dead will hear the voice of God, and those who hear will live. The Gospel is clear. True life, everlasting life, depends on learning to recognize the voice of Jesus, and then following that voice wherever it calls us to go. In answering the question of what one should do with his life, it is rare to hear someone say that they should simply follow the voice of Jesus wherever it leads them. Usually we hear something different. I do not know what God wants me to do with my life. I want to do many different things, or I want to do something that is not possible. Today’s Gospel points us all in the right direction in our discernment of how to live a truly meaningful life. We are to work on recognizing the voice of Jesus. We are to learn to follow that voice wherever it may lead us.

Meditation on the sacred scriptures is almost always the most fruitful way of letting the voice of Jesus penetrate our minds and our hearts. I am a firm believer that we should always be reading the Gospels. We should read not only in preparation for Mass. We should read the Gospels also continuously, as stories, so as to become so familiar with the way Jesus speaks. In our conversations with one another, the words of Jesus should come to mind readily. We should be able to think and to speak in the language of scriptures, especially the language of the Gospels. Becoming familiar with the voice of Jesus increases the likelihood that when we have to discern an important decision, it will be his voice that guides us. Learning to recognize his voice in this life will also help us at the moment of our death. It is Jesus’ promise that his voice will call us to everlasting life after all other voices, including our own have finished speaking.