The first reading describes the call of the child Samuel to be God’s prophet. In the night, young Samuel is asleep and he hears a voice, “Samuel, Samuel.” He doesn’t understand and he thinks that the priest of the temple, Eli, is calling him. He runs through the temple to see what Eli wants. After a couple of times, Eli, the priest at Shiloh, tells Samuel that it is God that is calling to him. Samuel is told to reply, “Speak Lord, you servant is listening.” So, Samuel’s life as a prophet begins. There is, however, a backstory to this short reading.
The Backstory Hannah, a second wife of a man named Elkanah, was childless. She was distraught and prayed to the Lord for a child in the Temple at Shiloh. She promised that if she was given a child, that she would give the child to the service of the temple. Eli, seeing her sobbing, told her she was drunk and to go home. You see, all is not well at the temple in Shiloh. Hannah explains that she was praying and then leaves. She conceives a son, Samuel, and after he was weaned she gave him to Eli at the Temple. That is why this young boy was sleeping that night in the temple.
There is more.
The first book of Samuel said that Eli was a poor supervisor of his sons, Hophni and Phineas. They would abuse their office as priests at the temple and mistreat women and others who came. The book also said that it had been a long-time since God had revealed himself in the temple at Shiloh. Finally, the story noted that Samuel was sleeping next to the Ark of the Covenant. It is never a good thing to sleep in God’s presence. If you are always asleep in the Lord’s presence, revelation is not probable. Think of Jesus and his three disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus, the call and an uncertain future The gospel is also about a call; the call of the disciples. Peter and two other disciples are called. We know their stories well. To answer a call is to never know with certainty how the call will work out. For Samuel, he became a judge of Israel and a great war leader. He anointed first Saul and then David as king of Israel. His personal hopes were that his sons would succeed him, but that was not God’s plan or the will of the people of Israel. For Peter and the other disciples, there call ended in martyrdom, something they could not have foreseen on the first day they met the Lord.
Would you answer the call again? I like to ask people who have been committed for a number of years, whether married, a priest or a religious sister, if they are happy. If they answer ‘yes’, I ask, “If you knew all the difficulties that lay before you back then, would you do it again.” They always answer yes. God gives us the grace to answer the challenges of our call. For Samuel, Peter and those that follow God as a disciple, there are always obstacles and joys. Sometimes, the obstacles seem insurmountable. If you knew from the beginning about the loss of a child, or the hardship of service or the death of a young spouse, it might give you pause to reconsider your vocation. I think, God prepares us for the challenges ahead by giving us smaller challenges. We learn how to deal with frustration, first in our family life, then in school and work. This prepares us for the challenges that vocation will most certainly offer us.
The generosity of God! If Samuel had slept through the Lord’s call or if Peter and the other disciples had turned away and kept on walking, where would any of us be. If you had turned from your call where would you or the people you love be. We can only find out by saying yes to the call. We become who God made us to be by answering the call to commitment and giving ourselves away. We find ourselves by losing ourselves in vocation. The key, it seems to me, is to make as good a decision as we are capable and then trust ourselves to the generosity of God.