The Voice That Calls Us Home | Daily Readings | May 12, 2025
May 12, 2025 – Daily Catholic Lectionary Readings for Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter.
“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” In a world of endless noise and countless voices demanding our attention, Jesus cuts through with a simple truth – those who belong to Him recognize His voice. Discover how Peter learned to hear God speaking in unexpected ways and places, and how we too can tune our hearts to the Shepherd’s call.
This reflection explores:
- How to hear God’s voice amid life’s constant noise and distractions
- Why we build categories and boundaries that God keeps breaking through
- The universal human thirst for God that unites us beyond our differences
- What it means to follow the Shepherd’s voice in everyday decisions
Readings covered: Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 42:2-3; 43:3-4; John 10:11-18
Perfect for anyone feeling overwhelmed by life’s noise, struggling with rigid thinking, longing for deeper connection with God, or wondering how to hear divine guidance in everyday life.
#CatholicDailyReadings #BibleStudy #GoodShepherd #HearingGodsVoice #MondayReflection #PeterVision #OneFlockOneShepherd
The Voice That Calls Us Home
“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”
These simple words from Jesus cut through the noise of our complicated lives. In a world of endless chatter – social media notifications, breaking news alerts, workplace demands, family needs – we’re bombarded with voices competing for our attention. Yet one voice matters above all others.
Peter discovered this truth through an unexpected vision. His neat religious categories were shattered when God showed him that divine love transcends human boundaries. The Good Shepherd wasn’t content with a single fold but declared, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.”
This isn’t about politics or immigration – it’s about the human heart. We all build walls. We sort people into categories: useful or useless, agreeable or difficult, worthy or unworthy. Then we’re surprised when God ignores our carefully constructed boundaries.
The question that changed Peter – “Who was I that I could hinder God?” – is the question that can change us. It’s not about who’s in or out. It’s about recognizing our own limited vision compared to God’s limitless love.
Think about your own life. Where have you decided God can’t possibly be working? With whom have you given up? What situations have you deemed hopeless? Perhaps that’s exactly where the Shepherd is leading his flock while we’re looking the other way.
Our psalm speaks to this universal longing: “As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.” Before we’re anything else – before we’re Catholics or Protestants, conservatives or liberals, successful or struggling – we’re creatures thirsting for our Creator. This shared longing could unite us if we let it.
The Good Shepherd calls. The question isn’t whether He’s speaking, but whether we’re listening. Not just in church or during prayer, but in the ordinary moments – while navigating family tensions, making workplace decisions, scrolling through social media, or passing the homeless person on your commute.
What would change if we genuinely listened for the Shepherd’s voice in every situation? If we approached each person as someone Christ knows by name? If we saw each setting – even uncomfortable ones – as potential pastures where He leads?
Peter had to overcome lifelong religious conditioning to enter Cornelius’s home. What deeply ingrained attitudes might you need to reconsider to follow where the Shepherd leads?
The promise remains: one flock, one shepherd. Not through forced uniformity but through recognition of the same voice calling each of us by name. The voice that spoke creation into being. The voice that calmed storms. The voice that called Lazarus from the tomb. The voice that still says to you: “I know you. Follow me.”
In a world of division and distraction, may we quiet ourselves enough to hear that voice. And having heard it, may we have the courage to follow where it leads.
