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January 26, 2024Do You Want to Hear the Voice of God?When the Israelite people were set free from their slavery in Egypt, and they followed Moses out into the desert, they were told something very important: From now on, you are The People of God (the one true God), and you must love him, obey him and serve him. God, on his part, will love you and protect you, and provide for your needs. And he will talk to you!
Moses went up Mount Horeb on that sacred day to speak with God face to face. The people of Israel stayed in their tents, but they kept looking up at the thunder and lightning, fire and smoke, pouring up from that mountain whenever God spoke. They were terrified! And the people said to Moses once he returned to the camp: “From now on, you speak to God and let God speak to you, and we will do whatever he says, but please ask God not to speak to us directly! It is too frightening to hear his voice.
God does desire to speak to us and to listen to us, and he does not want us to be afraid. So, he sent his Word, the Lord Jesus, to speak to us. St. John Paul II said: “Jesus is the human face of God and the divine face of man.” Jesus bridges the gap that we could never bridge on our own. He forgives our sins and gives us intimate accessibility to God.
Do not be afraid of the voice of God. Often people complain, “God never speaks to me. Or at least I can’t hear him. Why is he so quiet?” One answer is that God communicates in the silence. This was the revelation of Elijah on the mountain, when he heard God speak in the tiny, whispering sound. If you want to hear the voice of God, you will have to make a decision to put silence into your life.
I assure you; God is very capable of speaking to us in a voice like thunder and lightning, but he does not want to speak in that voice. What good father wants his beloved children to fear him?
I will leave this Thursday, Feb 1st for Louisiana where I will visit some of our seminarians who are studying at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans and St. Joseph’s Seminary in St. Benedict, La. It is part of my job to make sure that our future priests are well formed and prepared before they are ordained and go to their assignments in the diocese of Savannah. I meet with the rector and formation team of the seminary and assess the progress of our seminarians. I also take them out to a nice dinner!
I will return on Wed, Feb 7th in time for the 6:00 pm Mass. A big thank you to Fr. Gregory Viskas and Fr. Jerry Ragan for covering our weekend masses Feb 3 and 4.
Fr. Brett Brannen
Pastor
