God Is Speaking To Us

Michaelangelo Caravaggio's
The Inspiration of Saint Matthew

Readings for Thursday, August 26:

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Psalm 145:2-7
Matthew 24:42-51

Sometimes the Lord speaks to us in a quiet way and sometimes He speaks to us loud and clear. In my six years of formation for priesthood, we have often been told of the necessity of listening to God’s voice in our discernment of our vocation as well as in making normal decisions. In the midst of all of the things going on sometimes it was easy for me to miss what the Lord was saying to me in small things. I was too distracted that I simply could not hear his voice and so His only option was to make His point loud and clear so that I could not help but hear it.

Today the Lord is speaking to us in that loud and clear voice as He tells us “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day the Lord will come.” There is an exclamation point here, which is not very common. It shows His intensity and the point of making this call forceful. And as we hear the force of this call, we are jolted a bit. For us who might have been going along and not hearing clearly the call of the Lord, it is a loud sign for us to be more attentive. Now we have heard the loud call, so we can be reminded that God is speaking to us daily in small ways. He speaks to us in the words of friend or stranger, or in a small scripture quote or gesture. The point is that He is always speaking to us. The question for each of us to ask ourselves is: what is he speaking to me today?