The first reading for mass today, from the book of Samuel is quoted pretty often, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10) It’s really pretty awesome, the way that God makes His presence known to people. In the first verse of this reading, it says that a revelation of the Lord was uncommon during those days and visions were infrequent.
God was gentle when He approached Samuel, so He didn’t frighten Him by revealing His presence all at once. Calling gently to Samuel in his sleep was a way to reach out to him gradually, to make His presence known. God’s revelations are often like that, a gentle and slow revealing of His presence. It’s a peaceful, gradual, certainty that grows slowly over time. That is a sure sign that it is God who is revealing Himself and His will to you. He is more like a gentle nudging, or tugging that you continue to notice until He gets your attention, like a child who stands respectfully and patiently from afar until you become aware that they would like to talk to you. Especially when you are already busy with something else.
Jesus was of course both human and divine, but he set an excellent example for how most people seek to know God’s will. Silence, solitude and prayer are the basic elements that greatly facilitate a greater awareness of God’s presence in our lives. If you think about it, that is the same three elements that Samuel experienced in the first reading for mass today too. Samuel was off by himself, asleep in silence, and had been in the temple praying at the time.
Coming to know God’s will in any given situation is not something you control. He does. Sometimes God wants us to take care of things ourselves, make mistakes, learn from them and grow in the development of our character and holiness. And, sometimes God will send His Spirit to reveal something to you, but when He does this, it is usually to benefit other people too and not for you alone. Most of our actions affect others though, even if it is indirectly. Jesus left Simon, Andrew, James and his mother-in-law, to go off alone to pray. His actions did affect everyone in the house when they discovered he was gone, and the very fact that Christ would be moving on would also affect a lot of people.
Christ carefully contemplated what the right thing to do next was and sought his Father’s advise. In his case, it wasn’t the right thing to remain in one place too long because his purpose was to make known the kingdom of God, and there were no televisions newspapers or radios back then. He needed to reach as many people as possible while he still had the time to do so.
We usually know what is best for our lives, deep down inside. There is just so much noise, distractions, stress and pressures from other people that we do not feel very close to God or have the ability to “listen” with the ears of the heart. Holiness, direction and guidance from God is not just for saints and prophets though. God wants us to enter into a deeper relationship with Him and most especially, with His son Jesus. We are His children, and even though there are so many of us, God loves each of us individually, the same way we love our own children.
The next time you feel a gentle tugging on your heart that you just can’t shake, it may be a call from the Lord to come away for a while and speak with him. He has something he needs to talk to you about. Like any good relationship though, it is also a good thing to seek his company when you have something on your mind, or on your heart. He is always there to care about you and listen to your joys and sorrows, dreams, plans and problems and he will do what he can to help.
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