Chapter Chaplain's Homily Reflection - WHAT YOU LISTEN FOR, YOU HEAR

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WHAT YOU LISTEN FOR, YOU HEAR
My brothers and sisters, today on Good Shepherd Sunday, Jesus gives us one of the most beautiful and challenging lines in the Gospel: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Right there, Jesus describes the whole spiritual life. God knows us… we listen… and we follow. In this shepherd-sheep relationship, we see two distinct points: God’s responsibility to his people and the people's responsibility to him.
As Shepherd who As a Shepherd who takes care of his flock, God has absolute knowledge of his people: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” (Jer. 1:5); and …..“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; …..; you are mine” (Is 43:1). There is nothing that motivates faith and trust as to know that God knows each one of us individually – our names, story, plights, wounds, hopes, cravings, labor and joy. Because if He knows me, then He also knows what I need, where I’m hurting, and where He wants to lead me.
But then comes our part: hearing His voice. And this is where the theme of today’s homily comes in: What you listen for, you hear. We don’t just hear sounds—we hear according to the disposition of our hearts. Two people can hear the same message and walk away with completely different reactions. This is exactly what unfolds in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The same message is preached, yet the responses are completely different. Some reject it; others receive it with joy. The difference is not in the message, but in the listeners. One group is closed, the other open. One listens with resistance, the other with desire.
And it’s the same with us. If you listen for criticism, you’ll hear it everywhere. If you listen for reasons to be afraid, they’ll multiply. If you listen for anger, revenge, or voice of moral confusion, those voices will surround you. And if you listen to those voices long enough, you will start believing they are the truth. This reminds us that faith is not automatic but a choice. Every day, we decide whose voice we will follow.
Meanwhile, we trust the weather forecaster, the economist, the doctor, the historian… but when God speaks in Scripture or through the Church, we often treat it as optional. We quote politicians and historians more than we quote the Gospel. We follow cultural voices more eagerly than the Shepherd.
Jesus brings this truth home in the Gospel: “my sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” His sheep are those who are attuned to Him, those who listen with faith, those who are inclined to his lifestyle, those who see his words as message of life, those who seek the truth, who like the voice of mercy, the voice of peace, etc. They recognize his voice not because it is louder, but because their hearts are disposed to receive it.
And tuning your heart to Jesus takes time. It takes prayer. It takes familiarity with His Word. It takes confronting the ego inside us that wants to hear only what is comfortable. Because your desires determine which voices appeal to you. If you desire peace, you’ll understand the language of peace. If you desire holiness, the Gospel will speak clearly. If you desire truth, you’ll recognize the Shepherd’s voice even when it challenges you. But Jesus doesn’t stop at “hearing.” He adds, “They follow me.”
And that’s where many Christians struggle. On Sunday, we come to Mass and listen to God’s voice. But once we leave, we often follow our own opinions, our own habits, our own ways of living. No one who believes in God does things his own way but follows the way of the Lord. To believe in God but not follow Him is to live like a sheep without a shepherd.
Following Jesus means letting His voice—not our impulses—shape our decisions, our relationships, our priorities, our moral choices, our daily life. Today, the Good Shepherd calls us to follow Him in good times and bad, in sickness and health, in abundance and scarcity, in clarity and confusion. He leads us not just to green pastures, but through the valleys too. The outcome is always good and beneficial.
So, let me leave you with the question Jesus places before us today: What are you listening for? Because what you listen for, you will hear. And what you hear, you will follow. May we tune our hearts to the voice of the Good Shepherd— the voice of mercy, the voice of peace, the voice of truth— and may we follow Him all the days of our life.

Fr. Imo

Chaplain 

Arrowhead Desert Valley Chapter