“… the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them … the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.” It is so very hard to hear the voice of the divine Shepherd because of all the other voices in our lives: voices of friends and family and others whom have a claim on us, like employers or teachers or coaches; voices of ideological news channels; voices of advertisers; and voices inside ourselves telling us not to take risks, not to love or trust, not to sacrifice or defer our own wishes, not to be generous and forgiving. A gift of our Catholic tradition is discernment. It is a spiritual practice that helps us figure out the authentic voice and call of the Shepherd. Often a spiritual guide or director can help with this, and there are lots of books to help too. But the important starting point is just to call on the help of our Shepherd to give us the ears we need to hear his voice.
– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia