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A few months before I was starting seminary formation, I was blessed to accompany a family friend on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The whole week was fruitful, but nothing was more transformative for me than a completely Providential glance out our bus window. We were driving from somewhere back to Jerusalem, and we were passing through some pretty featureless hills.
I was drifting in and out of sleep, and as I surfaced from my stupor at one point, I caught a glimpse of a nomadic shepherd standing a ways off from his flock. He had a handful of little rocks in one hand, and as he saw one of his sheep start to wander from the flock, he would throw one of his rocks well out in front of it to startle the sheep back into the fold. It was no more than a couple of seconds before we were over the hill and this scene fell out of sight.
This transformed my notion of the Good Shepherd because I have always struggled to be confident that I was hearing His voice — which the Gospel and many homilies had told me we should be able to do. But in that moment, a flood of memories of different people, experiences, conversations, and encounters came rushing through my head. Each of them was a little stone, thrown into my life by our Good Shepherd to keep me from straying too far beyond His watchful gaze.
Part of discernment is definitely listening for God’s voice. But our Good Shepherd has many other tools at His disposal, and part of discernment is also learning to recognize the “stones” that are from God to see how and where He might be nudging you along.
You are in my prayers and the prayers of our Vocations team and our province. Please reach out if you’d like to have a conversation. For those of you on an academic year, blessings upon the home stretch of the semester!
By Fr. Drew Clary, C.S.C. — Holy Cross Vocations Director
Provided by the Vocations Office, April 29, 2026.
