Our Lord said that His sheep would know His voice; but when it comes to discerning your vocation, you’ve probably found that it’s not as simple as it sounds. How can you tell what if what you're hearing is God's voice?

If you keep in mind a few characteristics of God’s voice, it is more likely you will be able to distinguish His voice from your own, the voice of the world, and the voice of the Devil:

• God’s voice always urges us to do good. Anything else comes from another source. A good end never justifies a bad means, no matter how good your intention is.
• God’s voice gives confidence and hope. He challenges us to conversion, and sometimes it is painful for us to respond, but He always does so in a loving manner. The voice of God does not give despair or self-loathing.
• God’s voice does not bring confusion; rather, He keeps things simple. If something is causing you confusion, you are probably hearing different voices giving conflicting message, and it is important to work through the confusion until you have an understanding of God’s plan and clarity of purpose.
• God’s voice always gives peace. Even when what He asks is painful, or difficult to accomplish, following the Shepherd’s voice will bring a deep internal peace that is different than superficial comfort.

While it is necessary to be able to know and understand God’s voice above all, it is also important to know the other voices that you will hear.

You can get to know your own voice by paying attention to what you think about when your mind is free from other distractions. If you have basic virtuous habits, your inclinations will be to desire such things as changing the world around you for good, selfless and heroic action, serving Jesus. But we often doubt ourselves and our abilities, and this doubt creates confusion. Pay attention to what you think about and desire so that you know in what ways you stand most in need of conversion.

The voice of the world tells you to trust worldly things rather than God. It urges you to value self-importance, money, power, and things more than you should. This is a relatively simple voice to recognize, but the allure of worldly things is sometimes extremely difficult to resist, especially if you are not in the habit of identifying and resisting their attraction.

The voice of Satan can be more difficult to distinguish. He will try to directly tempt you away from listening to God’s voice; but if you are working to resist him, he will try a more clever tactic. He will appear as an “angel of light”, offering a lesser good than what God has prepared for you, making it seem as though you could be happier with that lesser good. For example, God may be prompting you to go to daily Mass on a particular day and sacrifice some time with friends, but the Devil tries to convince you that praying a rosary will be sufficient. Besides, your good influence may help your friends to convert, right?

Similarly, while it is good to be repentant for one’s sins, the Devil will try to use excessive feelings of guilt, shame, and self-loathing to make you despair and turn away from God’s mercy. But Satan is a liar and a trickster, so it’s necessary to understand that he’ll use any means he can to achieve his purpose of separating you from God, even using good things to do so.

Take some time in prayer to consider how you hear these different voices, and what effects you let them have in your life and your discernment, and possibly bring this to spiritual direction. You will find that paying attention to these voices and influences can allow you to more clearly follow the Shepherd’s voice in an otherwise confusing situation.