The story of the call of Samuel begins with Samuel asleep. Sleeping is a great biblical theme for spiritual inattentiveness. Here’s Samuel, in a holy place, in the temple, like us in a church, and what’s he doing? Is he praying, is he worshipping, is he devoting his attention to God? No. He’s sleeping.
We begin the spiritual life asleep, inattentive to the presence and will of God. We are here this morning because someone woke us up to the importance of faith, to the importance of religion, to the truth of Catholicism. It may have been the religious practice of your parents in your home growing up that helped to wake you up to the presence of God, it may have been the example of a fiancé or a spouse; perhaps a beautiful piece of sacred art or architecture helped you to realize that there is something greater than yourself.
You likely know people who are wide-awake to their career, to the statistics of their favorite athletes, to the intricacies of their favorite movie franchise, to the fluctuations of the stock market, but are sound-asleep to the things of God. When you are asleep to the spiritual realities, you are missing out on an entire dimension of human existence.
Contrast Samuel snoozing away in the Temple to the image of the Magi from Epiphany Sunday last week: the Magi, scanning the night sky, looking for signs of God’s will, leaving the comfort of their homes, traveling a vast distance to come to know God. The Magi are awake, “woke” as the kids say these days; Samuel is asleep, and needs to wake up.
Next, we read of God calling out to Samuel, but Samuel was convinced it was the voice of his teacher Eli and so he goes back to sleep. The second spiritual lesson is that God is calling out to us, over and over, and it often takes many attempts for us to wake up.
For those asleep to the spiritual realities, whose ears are unattuned to the voice of God, it takes a while to wake up and finally get it. When we are sharing our faith with non-believers, we need to be persistent; they might not get it the first time. Or family members who have fallen asleep to the obligation to attend Mass every week; it’s going to take a few attempts to wake them up again, and we shouldn’t lose heart at their spiritual grogginess. As faith permeates our culture less and less it’s going to take more effort, not less, to bring unbelievers and fallen-away Catholics to spiritual awakening.
How many times have you had to confess the same sin over and over in the Sacrament of Confession? Spiritual awakening takes effort, takes many attempts, takes perseverance, and that’s okay, as long as we continue to seek that awakening.
It becomes problematic when we stop going to confession and just surrender to our sinfulness. This is why it is Church teaching that we do not present ourselves to receive Holy Communion if we have not confessed our serious and mortal sins. For when we approach Holy Communion, we are not to be surrendered to sin, but surrendered to God.
Notice, next in the story how Samuel, confused by the strange voice of God, Samuel turns to the wisdom of the priest Eli. As we begin to awaken to the spiritual realities, as we begin to attune our ears to the voice of God, turning to the spiritual masters becomes extremely important. We need spiritual supports if we are going to wake up and remain awake.
Coming to Mass every week is an obligation for Catholics because without it we begin to fall back asleep. But even when you do come to Mass, there is a further obligation to be as attentive as you can to the spiritual realities that take place here. Vatican II said that we need to strive for full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgical celebrations: that means to actively listen to the scriptures and prayers, to actively engage in the dialogues, to sing the psalms and hymns to the best of your ability. The hymns are not just religious background music, they integral parts of the Mass. Again contrast Vatican II’s full, conscious, active participation to Samuel snoozing in the Temple. Full, conscious, active participation isn’t easy because Mass is different than watching television or going to work, it requires the exercise of a different set of spiritual muscles.
We also need the spiritual support of a personal prayer life throughout the week: reading the writings of the spiritual masters, the saints, meditating on sacred scripture, meditating on the mysteries of the holy rosary, making frequent confession, are vital spiritual supports.
Finally, the last spiritual lesson from Samuel’s story, notice that after awakening to the reality of God, Samuel hears God calling him by name and responds with the desire to serve God. It is a life-changing moment when we go from unbelief to actually experiencing God calling us by name.
God not only loves humanity in general, he loves us each uniquely. To experience his profound love for you personally, will change you forever. But you have to dispose yourself to this through the effort of the spiritual life.
Samuel responds to this encounter with God’s love for him, with the desire to serve, and that is the sign of spiritual awakening. In Scripture, God calling his servants by name: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Daniel, Elijah, Ezekiel, Amos, Peter, James, John, Paul. And the calling by name transforms these people into powerful instruments of his Divine Plan.
God’s call is persistent and personal. Pray, pray, pray that you may hear God calling you by name, and when you do, pray in the words of Samuel, “Speak, for your servant is listening” that you might become an instrument of spiritual awakening for others, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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