Do you recognize Jesus' voice?

Fourth Week of Easter John 10, 1-10 Jesus said: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers." Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them. So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."

Today’s gospel is really two parables in one. The first where Jesus compares himself to the gatekeeper of the sheepfold where the sheep know his voice and the second where Jesus says that unlike the thieves, he the good shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him. The common part of thing the two parables is the sheep know the voice of the shepherd they have a relationship with them. My brother Kevin is two years older than I am. We sound very much alike. In the old days, when we used landlines, I would call his house. If his kids would answer the phone, they would think it was their dad. But not my sister-in-law. She never confused me for my brother she knew my brothers my voice. How well do we know Jesus’ voice? There are so many voices out there how do we know that it is the voice of Jesus? And that it isn’t someone else who is trying to imitate Jesus’ voice? How can we make sure that it is Jesus, and not a thief or a robber? Obviously, we must develop a relationship with Jesus. We have to know what Jesus is saying and to recognize Jesus’ voice when there are so many trying to imitate his voice today. But how do we know that it is the voice of Jesus? What can we do to familiarize ourselves with Jesus’ voice? Like my sister-in-law, we have to listen to him, we have to develop a relationship with him. Obviously, the best way to listen to Jesus’ voice is by the reading of the scriptures. Most especially the Gospels. Jesus spoke in a specific time and a place, but his word still has meaning for us today, in 2026 here in Mexico. We need to be people of the word of God. We do that by reading the Bible. We come here every Sunday to proclaim God’s word, but that is never enough. We need to hear God’s word every day. Scripture always has to be a part of our daily routine. If it is just reading a verse in the morning on your way to work, the Gospel for the day. Participating in a bible study. All these things help us to hear God’s word. Most of the time when I go to Mass, I am the preacher. I get to hear myself. A great blessing for me is those times that I get to hear someone else preach. As Catholic Christians we also believe that we can hear the voice of Jesus in one another. Especially in the voices of the ones that we love and in the voices of the poor. By listening to one another we can hear Jesus’ voice. In listening to the poor, we can hear Jesus. The poor on the streets longing for something to eat. Here in Mexico especially in the families of the disappeared. When we hear their cries, we hear the voice of Jesus. Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. Jesus is obviously our Good Shepherd, but we are blessed with other pastors in our Church. The priests here, our bishops and the Pope in Rome. The blessing is when our pope speaks, he speaks for all of us. The pope helps us to understand what Jesus is saying today. As we know there are competing voices out there and Pope Leo helps us to speak with one voice. This is very interesting because right now there is a fight going on in my country one side, we have the pope and the other side we have the political leaders the president and vice president and members of congress who seem to think that they can speak for Jesus. Or know what Jesus would say. I am talking about the war in Iran that the US is raging. Pope Leo said, “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Pope Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: 'Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.” On the other side we have the current administration saying that we should pray for this war and that the US will be victorious. Obviously, we know that our God is a God of peace not a God of war. What a blessing we have as Catholic Christians when there is any kind of doubt we have our Good Shepherd the pope who can help us to discern God’s will today.