The Power of the Voice

“The voice is the most  personal instrument there is,” a professor once told me. Before entering seminary, I was pursuing a Master’s degree in voice performance. I was preparing to be an opera singer and a teacher of voice at a university. The voice had a central importance in my life. Since I left vocal performance to follow God’s call to the seminary, the voice has now gained a spiritual importance.
 
Teachers of singing, experts on the human voice, and even rights advocates have made similar claims that “the human voice is very personal.” The singing voice is especially so. When one stands on the grand stage of the opera house, sings with little to no amplification, an orchestra for support, and an audience full of people waiting to be pleased and wanting to get their money’s worth, one feels incredibly vulnerable. The same goes for someone who is speaking publicly or teaching at any level.
 
The human voice is special. It is the only instrument that is actually part of the human body.
 
It is what we use to communicate ideas, decisions, claims, and emotions. It is how we say “I love you” and “God is good!” The voice is the only instrument that simultaneously produces pitch, tone, emotion, rhythm, and text. We all share common traits--hair color, shoe size, height--but no two voices are identical. This is no coincidence.
 
God intended our voices to be unique. He intended to give us the voice we have and He delights in hearing it. He delights in our prayers, our songs, and our cries that go out to Him. He wants us to come to Him, to praise Him with our unique voice, and to share our struggles and joys with Him. God desires to hear our voice.
 
God’s voice is both similar and different to our own voice.  He speaks to us not with a voice like ours, but rather to our heart. He sings to our heart.
 
In  I Thirst for You, Mother Teresa writes in the voice of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. We hear the voice of Jesus say that He longs for us--He thirsts for us. He desires that we come to Him as we are. John Paul II once said: “I beg and implore you--allow Christ to speak!” The seminary provides this quiet space for God to speak as we learn to hear His unique voice.
 
Following His voice we learn to grow closer to our Lord and to love Him more deeply as He loves each of us. I am able to speak to Him my thanks for all the beautiful blessings He has placed in my life. I am able to articulate my hardships and my failures. I am able to share the voice of my heart deep within me with my Heavenly Father and know that He hears me and delights in me.
 
St. John Paul II Seminary has been a place to experience not only true brotherly love, but also the authentic love of God. When we listen to His voice, we can know that Jesus desires this for all of us. As Mother Teresa wrote, He lovingly calls out to us saying, “Come to Me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. Open to Me, for I Thirst for You.”
 
Semantics are published each Tuesday during the academic year. To read last week's post on Guardian Angels, click here.