Loquere, Domine, quia audit servus tuus ['Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth.'] I am Thy servant; O give me understanding that I may know Thy testimonies. Incline my heart unto the words of Thy mouth. Let thy speech distil as the dew. The children of Israel spake in old time to Moses, "Speak thou unto us and we will hear, but let not the Lord speak unto us lest we die". Not thus, O Lord, not thus do I pray, but rather with Samuel the prophet, I beseech Thee humbly and earnestly, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. Let not Moses speak to me, nor any prophet, but rather speak Thou, O Lord, who didst inspire and illuminate all the prophets; for Thou alone without them canst perfectly fill me with knowledge, whilst they without Thee shall profit nothing.
De Imitatione Christi, III, ii-iii
_____________________________
Mistrust. Unrest. Disobedience. Rebellion.
Mistrust in the will of God.
Unrest concerning the designs of God.
Disobedience to the commandments of God.
Rebellion to the authority of God.
These misleading sentiments are not what we find in the beautiful story of the vocation of Samuel, read throughout this week in the Roman Breviary. From before his conception, the son of Anna (Hannah) was dedicated to the service of God. After being nourished with wisdom by his mother on the outside world, he was brought to the temple after she weaned him (Matins, Tuesday).
His calling from God was significant: he was "lent" to God, by way of Eli (Heli), to fulfill a duty. The sons of Eli, raised within the Temple in Shiloh, acted not as children of God, but as "sons of Belial". Indeed, "the sin of the young men was exceeding great before the Lord: because they withdrew men from the sacrifice of the Lord" (Matins, Wednesday). They had to be replaced, in some way, by a faithful seed, a faithful fruit, a faithful kind of Levite-Prophet, coming from outside the Temple.
Fully enclosed in the life of the Temple, the little Levite had the future revealed to Eli by a prophet: "I will build him a faithful house" (Matins, Friday).
The prophecy is fulfilled: the Levite coming from outside the family of the High Priest is the one called by God to do His will at that time. The readings of this Saturday, known to all, are astounding in the beauty of the great obedience they reveal. The child was not disobedient to the High Priest because of the sins of his sons; he was not disobedient to the High Priest because of obedience to God.
When the providential time came, when God finally called the man dedicated to His service, Samuel first sought the High Priest, and then, when told what to do, answered the calling of Almighty God: "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." And the Lord revealed to him what was to come and what he was to become.
Was Samuel rebellious to the High Priest from then on, on account of what he knew would happen, due to the disrespect of the sacrifice and oblations by Eli's sons? No: when asked to reveal them, "Samuel told [Eli] all the words, and did not hide them from him. And he answered: It is the Lord: let him do what is good in his sight."
And Samuel was blessed for his trust, and for reliance on the Lord, for his obedience to God and to God's representative, Eli: "Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and not one of his words fell to the ground."
