How God Speaks to Us – Lent 2025

Summary

---

God speaks to us in many ways, including through our imaginations. We should make particular use of Sacred Scripture as we try to open our hearts to hearing the voice of God.

Praying Scripture for a Change 

Thank you for watching and participating in this retreat!

Not Registered, yet? Don’t miss the rest of the talks! Register for the Pray More Retreat!

Downloads

---

Audio MP3

Click here to download the audio file.

Printable Study Guide PDF

Click here to download the printable study guide.

Printable Transcript PDF

Click here to download the transcript of the video presentation.

Reflective Study Guide Questions

---

“Indeed, the word of God is living and effective,”

Heb. 4:12.

1.Kitty says that God’s voice often sounds like our own voice in our hearts, and that He also often communicates to us through our imaginations. How has God spoken to you in the past? 

2. One of the main ways God speaks to us is through Sacred Scripture. How can you make better or more consistent use of Scripture in your prayer life?

3. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that prayer is a battle. In what ways is your prayer life a battle right now?

4.  It is often fruitful to end a time of prayer by making resolutions for our day. In what areas of your life might God be calling to you make good resolutions?

Text: How God Speaks to Us

---

Hi friends, I’m Kitty Cleveland, and welcome back to the Pray More Novena’s Lenten Retreat. It’s my delight to be here. 

Opening Prayer

Let’s pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Lord God, we love you. Thank you so much for giving us the desire to pray. Lord, that desire is a response to your invitation, it wasn’t our idea. Because you desire intimacy with us, and you desire to communicate your life to us. 

And I pray, Lord Jesus, that you will teach us how to hear your still small voice speaking us to us each day in the depths of our hearts. And Mother Mary, please help us, you who knew Jesus more intimately than anyone, please help us to tune our ears to His voice and to be docile and obedient, to all that He asks of us and shares with us. Amen. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Lectio Divina

Such a joy to be back with you friends. I’ve been asked to talk about how we hear God speaking to us. I was with my nieces and nephews who are college age, uh, recently over Christmas break.

And we had a conversation about how do you know when it’s God speaking to you and not just your imagination? And there are a few things. One of the first thing I said to them was that God’s voice, when he speaks to us in our hearts, sounds a whole lot like our voices. He uses our imaginations, our sanctified imaginations, to communicate his life to us.

But primarily, it is in the Word. In the living word of God, that he wants to communicate with us. It is his love letter to us. And many of us, myself included, did not get a whole lot of education about how to pray. Not just head knowledge, but how to enter, make that long journey from the head into the heart where the Lord speaks, and to listen to that still small voice. 

And so there have been some books written about Lectio Divina or sacred reading. And I’m going to share some of the tips that I’ve learned from those books and I will also put links down below in the show notes. So that you can find those books if you would like them.

One of them is called Praying a Scripture for a Change by Tim Gray. And there are many books that have been written on the ladder of prayer to God using the Word of God. But I thought we could just review those and then next time I’m going to actually be examining one of the scripture passages, one of my favorites and perhaps yours as well, the prodigal son.

And we’ll just in real time unpack the prodigal son and what is the spirit saying that day to me particularly, and hopefully to you as well. 

Steps of Lectio Divina

So the steps of Lectio Divina, the first is that we read the word. And so what I often will do is I will take the gospel of the day. You can use a Magnificat, you can use the Laudate app, which will tell you which scripture passages are for the day and we’ll have them for you.

There are so many beautiful Catholic apps available for your phones where none of us has an excuse for not having the word of God or just good old black and white. And by the way, I’m just going to show you, it’s a beautiful thing to write in your Bibles. I have. Notes and stars and brackets and dates and it’s really kind of neat.

I know that when I die, this will go to my daughter and I’m hoping that it will be a blessing to her too and that she will do that for her children and pass it on. So first we read the word and what is God actually saying? Like what are the facts here? What is the message that’s being communicated just generally speaking?

What’s happening in this scene? And then also to engage our senses and imagine that you’re in the scene. Perhaps it’s the Sermon on the Mount, and you’re one of the people sitting on the hilltop with Jesus, and you can feel the grass brushing against your feet, and the breeze coming off of the sea, and the sound of Jesus voice and the gaze as he looks into your eyes and says these things to you.

Perhaps someone is passing around the loaf of bread and fishes that have just been multiplied and you’re tasting the fish and the bread and it’s so sweet and delicious and there’s such an abundance. Where did they get all of this? So just allow yourself to enter the scene. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to imagine it and then allow the scene to unfold in front of you and pay attention to what’s jumping out at you.

John 15

So, sometimes you’ll be reading the passage, um, like for example, I’m at John 15 right now. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” Well, what does that mean, Lord? How has the Father loved you? Ask him the questions. And then, and then imagine, and that’s how the Father loved you, and that’s how you love me.

And you want me to live in that love? Well, what does that look like for me? So to sort of digest it, to meditate, to enter the scene, to use all of your senses. And this is the work of prayer. The Catechism says prayer is a battle. It is a battle, friends. I don’t know anyone who has an easy time with prayer.

So this is the effort that we put in at the beginning. And then the next one is we talk to God about this. What’s he saying to us? Lord, what are you saying to me? And to really pray into it. And then you can go further after that. And sometimes The Holy Spirit will lead you into contemplation.

Contemplation of the mysteries of God, of His goodness. It moves your heart, it elevates your mind closer to God, and makes you, increases your desire for Heaven. So this is what the Word of God can do for us. And then Many people will make a resolution for the day based on that. So for example, as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.

Live on in my love. You will live in my love if you keep my commandments. So then perhaps the resolution for that day would be to look at the Ten Commandments. How am I living? How am I living the law of love? How is God wanting to change me to be more like himself today? Where can I grow in virtue? You know, in the end, Jesus said, we will be judged on our love, on our works of mercy.

And so to spend that time every day and what are you saying to me day today, Lord and Jesus, what can I do for you today? These are the fruits of our prayer. And a greater love for him and a greater desire for heaven. 

God Speaks Through Images

I also want to mention that for me personally, in addition to the word of God, one of the most profound ways God speaks to me is through images. When I’m praying with people, very often I will get images in my mind and I’ll just share what I think God is saying, but always leave it with them. You know, what do you, does this mean for you? And very often it will be something that I could have never known, but the Holy Spirit revealed it. It’s just one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that word of knowledge.

And those gifts are not only for the people that I’m praying for, but they’re also for me. One time I was praying with someone and she had a whole arm full of tattoos. And, you know, an interesting, she was stunningly beautiful and, but not the typical person who comes to, you know, a Catholic women’s prayer breakfast. And she actually wasn’t there as an attendee. She was there to take photographs for her mom, but she asked me to pray with her at the end and what a beautiful opportunity. 

So as I prayed with her, I said, you know, I’m seeing an orchid and I think God is just saying you’re a beautiful. Rare flower in his garden and you know, kind of went with that for a few minutes and we prayed for a little while longer and at the end she said, I need to show you something and she came over and showed me a tattoo on her ankle of an orchid and had been her father’s favorite flower and he had passed very tragically and she was looking for some consolation in that.

Our sanctified imaginations. God can use that. And we can take that to a spiritual director if you’re getting words from the Lord, messages from God, and you’re not sure, is this from him? Take it to a spiritual director. Take it to a priest or your pastor, perhaps, or just some person that you respect and admire who’s a spiritual mother or father in your area.

And ask, does this sound like something God would say or do? So those, those images, um, are very powerful for the way I don’t hear things audibly. There are some people who hear an audible voice. That hasn’t happened to me yet, but I do hear things in the depths of my soul, inspirations that come, for example, to do some good thing.

Lectio Divina Rosary

I pay attention to those, especially if it is in the presence of the blessed sacrament. Um, or during my rosary, I pray the rosary every morning and we’re going to do that as well with one of my other talks, um, every morning, five days a week, every weekday morning, I lead a live rosary at 5: 45 in the morning central time.

And it’s basically a Lectio Divina rosary. And we just see what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us each day. It’s different every day and so much fun. So we’re going to be doing that for one of , my talks. And I’ll kind of show you and walk through that with you. And you can just taste the sweetness of the word of God, which is what the mysteries of the Rosary are; meditation on the word of God and on his deep profound mystery of salvation. 

So friends, let’s tune our ears to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us today, and let’s pay attention. How is he speaking to me? Is it, sometimes it’s other people saying to you exactly what you needed to hear in that moment.

Sometimes it’s just the beauty of nature is every leaf and flower cries out, I love you. It’s God’s little love letter to you all around the beauty of creation. I love you. I love you. I love you. He has good things for you friends. Don’t be afraid. To draw near to him and to listen to what he wants to say to you today. Amen. 

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Oh Lord, you’re so good to us. There’s so many different ways that you communicate your love and your life to us. Make us more sensitive to your voice. Give us more of your Holy Spirit, Lord, that we might discern your voice.

That we might create the space and the silence to hear you. And that we not be afraid to walk in the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that have been poured into us at baptism, stirred up at confirmation. Perhaps there are some gifts we have yet to even open. Help us, Lord, help us to say yes to all that you want to give us and to all that you’re saying to us.

Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

I’m Kitty Cleveland Friends, it’s been a joy to be with you. Until next time, God bless you.

About Kitty Cleveland

---