I’ve always had a liking for country music. One of the special effects its singers use is what might be called echoing. Here the main artist sings the melody in clear and strong tones. But then another voice, either some other singer or an electronic overlay of the singer’s voice, echoes the song. Not as crisp and full as the melody, it nevertheless enhances and enriches the main theme.

I think of this in connection with those servants in Luke’s 12th chapter who are eagerly awaiting the sound of the Master. All the practices and disciplines they’ve been going through have given them a sharper attunement to the wavelength of the Master, so that when he comes they can echo his sound, can replicate even a little of the timbre of his speaking and being.

Though a bit of a stretch, can we imagine all the praying and listening and serving we’ve done as a process of attuning ourselves to the sounds of God, of catching something of these melodies that the Spirit is singing?

And can we see the days and months ahead as a field of opportunities for giving off something of those Spirit-filled echoes with our lives. Can we look back at prayer days and retreats as a tuning in (and tuning up), a heightening of our sensitivities to the sounds of God coming through? And can we see ourselves in the year ahead as working to echo different tones of the divine presence, as sounding out the Gospel message?

I think of all the generations of the Vincentian family, especially Louise and Vincent and Elizabeth Ann, as well as the different heroines and heroes we’ve encountered personally, as these kinds of re-soundings, as reiterations, in different keys, of the Lord’s Good News to the poor.