Today’s Scripture Readings:

1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20, Psalm 40:2, 5, 7-10, Mark 1:29-39

Today’s first reading is the namesake for this blog. It begins by saying it was a time when revelations and visions were infrequent. A description that if it doesn’t fit our world reflects what many people believe, i.e. God doesn’t operate in our world the way God did in Biblical times. If God exists then God is distant and only watches us. A popular song a few years ago expressed this exact sentiment.

What happens next in Samuel is what I have taken to be instructive. God calls out to young Samuel in his sleep and Samuel simply goes to Eli to answer the call. Eli however, isn’t calling Samuel. This happens three times before Eli realizes that it’s God who is calling Samuel. He says, “if you are called, reply, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” Samuel is called and replies as instructed and from then on is a prophet of the Lord. I believe God is calling to us, all of us, all the time. However, we often don’t realize who is doing the calling. Too often there is no one who can tell us who is doing the calling. We can go along for a long time trying to answer the wrong call.

Importantly I am not taking this act of being called literally. I think it’s a way to talking about knowing who we are and what we are about. The general answers to those questions are: that we are loved by God, meaning worthwhile valued human beings, who are here to love and care for one another as participants in God’s gift of God’s self to the world. How each of us works this out should be the joy of being who we are. I’m convinced God is trying to engage us in our own personal adventures, if you will. The question is, are we listening? Do we pay attention to the people and events in our lives that say something about what is good for us? Are taking the time away from all the rush of living to see what’s actually going on?

Today’s Gospel can be seen as a sample of what real listening to God can accomplish. Are we going to invite Jesus into our home like Simon and Andrew did? The results can be quite dramatic. Simon’s mother-in-law was restored to health. Not only were town’s people cured of illness but Jesus drove out many demons. Isn’t that exactly what we want, to rid ourselves of the demons that plague our lives?

We have to do what Samuel did and what is wonderfully expressed in our Psalm response. We have to respond, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” We have to say, “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will.” If we can sort out what is good and worthwhile. If we can be honest about who we are and follow our deepest desires then the words of the Psalm will truly ring home.

I have waited, waited for the LORD, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust;
who turns not to idolatry or to those who stray after falsehood.

Which is followed by:

To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”

This certainly is Good News.

Today’s Scripture Readings:

1 Samuel 1:9-20, 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-8, Mark 1:21-28

What I noticed in today’s readings was the comment about Hannah after her visit to the temple, she “no longer appeared downcast.” That seems pretty straight forward. In her own words to Eli she describes herself as in “deep sorrow and misery.” So she had come to the Temple and “in her bitterness she prayed to the LORD, weeping copiously.” This was a heart-felt appeal. I think it’s exactly the place where we can feel God’s support.

Catholic’s have a wonderful and useful tradition of published prayers. Everything from the Eucharistic liturgy to the rosary and before and after meal prayers. Catholic schools and parish religious education programs work very hard to pass on these forms of prayer to each new generation. However, that tradition can have the tendency to steer an individual toward more formal and impersonal forms of praying. At minimum the words of prayer are not ours. Worse, we may not be connecting the act of prayer with what is happening for us at a personal level.

We can learn from Hannah. This woman is being totally honest with God and herself. That starts with coming to prayer, “in her bitterness.” Plus she blatantly wants to make a deal with God. This is not, however, a calculated action. What I see here is utter desperation. She is laying herself out there by not holding anything back. If we’re going to talk to God, I think that’s exactly what prayer requires. It involves brutal honesty about who we are, how we feel and what we want. There’s something holy in that process. According to this story it’s the kind of prayer to which God responds. It’s also been my personal experience that when I was emotionally spent and there seemed to be nothing left, at that very point, something changed and I felt better and more able to deal with what needed to be done.

I think it is from these kinds of emotional turn-arounds that the Psalmists and today Samuel exclaims, “My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.” Note he says, “My heart.” Consider how much of what we read in the Psalms is meant to refer to human events or can be understood to be about the human emotional landscape:

“The LORD puts to death and gives life;

 he casts down to the nether world;

 he raises up again.

 The LORD makes poor and makes rich:

 he humbles, he also exalts.”

Isn’t that where we are most likely to find our God, connected to the deepest part of who we are? That’s certainly what is going on in today’s Gospel.

Jesus is teaching in a synagogue based on his own authority, which to me suggests he talking from his own experiences and what the Scripture of the day means in his life. So this is already a personal encounter with the group. Some man “with an unclean spirit” reveals his deepest fears. Whatever “possessed” this man, it was deeply personal. Jesus’ own personal honesty so jarred him that he couldn’t abide what that might mean for him. The Gospel has already revealed that the other people were “astonished” at what Jesus was saying. Jesus, unwilling to enable any further dysfunction, heals the pain that has occupied the deepest parts of this man.

I would suggest that praying to God: actual prayer, being able to make the connection, may require that we recognize our deepest secrets, fears, wounds and desires. Maybe we need to name the “unclean spirits” in order to expel them from our lives. God certainly is listening.

Today’s Scripture Readings:

1 Samuel 1:1-8, Psalm 116:12-19, Mark 1:14-20

The challenge with the reading from Samuel is that it is a small first segment of the story of Samuel. We don’t have any of the details from the rest of the story which are usually the focus of what’s important. It is, however, a good exercise in staying with the scripture piece we have instead of importing what we already know from outside this part of the sacred text. I have always thought that it’s valuable to stick with the given text because it forces us to pay attention to little things we might not notice otherwise. It’s too easy to rush on to well-known details that supply a point we’ve all heard before instead of listening closely enough to discover something new for ourselves. I just think God has things for us in every little nook and cranny of life or text but it takes time and real attention to discover it.

What I notice about these first lines in 1 Samuel is that even though Hannah is barren and therefore the subject of ridicule from others, her husband is making open extra efforts to tell her she is special to him. He’s breaking the social attitudes of the time. He loves her for who she is and not because she might give him many sons with which to build his influence and posterity. There are no details here about why he likes her. He just prefers her over the other wife who has given him children. This is exactly the opposite of what someone would expect at the time.

So now looking at Mark’s Gospel I think I see another example of “no good reason” for choosing someone. Jesus having announced that the Kingdom of God is at hand has begun to collect disciples. He’s choosing them. This is exactly opposite of the way rabbis or teachers at the time collected students. Students sought out a teacher. Teachers didn’t go ask for students. What’s more, for me, there’s no interview process here. No culling for the best talent. How many, even really good fisherman, would have the skill set to “fish for people?” I think this is a case of someone who simply likes another person. In this case, at first sight, these guys appealed to Jesus. Again no details about why, he simply chooses them.

Often the conversation about this passage revolves around the fisherman immediately dropping a secure profession and going off to follow Jesus. In this case I think it’s very interesting that Jesus like Elkanah, the husband in 1 Samuel, simply prefers or likes these people. Jesus offers them something he expects to be life changing. He will show them how to do something new, Mark says, “I will make you fishers of men.” These men, who just happened to be there, have been chosen and I think that’s significant even for us today.

I think this story is exactly the pattern that we experience in recognizing God in our lives. God offers us something right in the midst of whatever we happen to be doing. I don’t think this is necessarily a call to ministerial service or a call to change professions. I think it is a message to every single one us that says: God prefers, loves and wants to favor us. No resume required. God’s out to collect people for his Kingdom. Like Jesus who simply, “walked a little further” and found the next two fisherman. God keeps asking people who are right there even if we are socially unacceptable like Hannah or ill equipped for what’s next like the fishermen.

The only problem is, we’re often the ones who don’t believe we are lovable or worthy of being favored. Hannah was offered a double portion of the food but refused to eat. Her husband begs her but she refuses. Are we willing to respond? Are there attitudes we have to drop or behaviors we need to stop doing to accept what is being offered? Are there things we want to change but haven’t felt it was possible? Perhaps we have to recognize the people or situations that are trying to show us something good. The Psalm today talks about thanking God for all the good things God has done. Like the Psalmist we must be willing to “take up” the “cup of salvation.” Are we paying enough attention to discover how this cup is being offered?