I was in my last year of college when I decided to enter the convent. As I told my friends, who were also in their early twenties, about how I felt that God was calling me, many of them had the same response: “But how do you know that it’s God calling you?”

This is a question that so many of us have. We want to do God’s will, we want to hear his voice, but we don’t even know what we’re listening for. And it doesn’t have an easy answer. In fact, I still ask myself this question on a daily basis. God, how do I know this is you?

With so much noise around and within me, it’s not easy to hear the voice of Jesus speaking in my heart. But the voice of Jesus is different than all the rest. It is quiet, gentle, and respectful. When the Lord speaks in my heart, I can’t hear it with my ears, and yet it is more real than anything else I have experienced. When I hear him speak, I am aware that I am deeply known, understood, and loved as I am. Even in the midst of fear or worry, when Jesus speaks, I know that I can trust His voice completely.

Even now, I’m unable to find the right words to describe the Lord’s voice because his voice is so unique and beyond description. With my friends, I was frustrated as I struggled to explain this voice that spoke to me in the depths of my heart, this voice which totally changed my life. It has been one of my greatest desires to be able to help my friends to get to know the sound of his voice too.

That’s why I’m so excited about Jesus Speaking. As I read through Jesus Speaking, I immediately recognized the voice of Jesus in his conversations with Gabrielle Bossis. It was that voice that I experienced calling me to enter religious life and which I’ve gotten to know over the past few years. Now, I can point to Jesus Speaking and say to my friends, “This is the voice of Jesus. This is how he speaks to us.”

Maybe you know someone who is wrestling with that same question: God, how do I know this is you? Maybe you’re asking that question on a daily basis like me. With this daily devotional that is packed with scripture, we can all learn how to better hear that voice that speaks to us in the depths of our hearts. His voice is the voice of love and of life, the voice that answers the deepest longings of our hearts, and it is definitely worth listening to.

—Sr Cecilia Ciccone, novice