Not long ago my family acquired a GPS (Global Positioning System) - you know, one of those car computers you mount on the dashboard that give turn-by-turn directions from Point A to Point B.

It’s quite a luxury to be able to drive to a new place and have someone tell you exactly which way to go. In fact, on this particular model, we were able to choose the type of voice that spoke to us. After a bit of sampling, my wife decided on the ‘Irish Lad’ - which was fine, as long as you could get through the brogue and knew that the interstate was actually the ‘motorway.’

This Sunday you and I will hear the familiar story of another voice. This is when John baptizes Jesus in the River Jordan and the voice of God comes from the heavens declaring, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well-pleased.”

What must it have been like to hear the voice of God? Did it sound like an Irish Lad? Was it even a male voice? And how did these hearers know it was God?

Many of us have had experiences in which we believe we’ve heard from the Divine. What characterizes that voice is nothing other than the fact that we’ve recognized its source. It may have come through a person, male, female, child, even a pet. It may have come from deep inside of us. But the point is that when God talks, God has a way of making God’s self known.

The importance, on our part, is putting ourselves into that place of hearing. Had Jesus and the crowds not gone to a place where God’s word, through John the Baptist, was not being brought forth, would they have heard God’s voice?

What kind of place or position need we be in to more clearly hear God’s voice? Do we need to quiet things down, unclutter, and dedicate more space to hearing God? After all, in these confusing times, getting a sense of God’s voice in our affairs may be the best thing we can do with our time.