Hear the call of God
Jn 1:35-42. The next day John stood there again, and with him two of his disciples. And when he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard Him speaking and followed Him.
[media=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KTEUjrFI0N8]
When Jesus turned and saw them following Him, he asked them, "What are you looking for?" They said, "Rabbi - that is, teacher - where do you live?" He answered them, "Come and see."
So they went and saw where he lived. And on that day they remained with Him. This happened around ten o'clock. One of the two who heard John's words and followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.
He first sought out his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah,” that is, the Christ. Then he brought him to Jesus. When Jesus looked at him, he said, “You are Simon, the son of John. From now on your name will be Cephas, which means Peter.
Samuel received the word, but it was the word that pushed him towards man. He didn't understand it well, but he shared it with another person. He begins his story as a prophet in darkness, serving as a servant to the indifferent high priest Eli. He is deprived of support and deprived of many entertainments of this world. He slept modestly in the tabernacle, so he spent moments of darkness with God. God was enough for him.
God speaks in the darkness and wakes you up from the night. He speaks in darkness because he loves the secrets and solitude of his chosen ones: "And when the sun had set, and there was deep darkness, then the Lord made a covenant with Abram" (Genesis 15:17-18). The covenant with Abram was made in impenetrable darkness.
The patriarch's loneliness was filled with the presence of God. The greater the loneliness, the greater the chance of discovering the Presence. But God also wakes us up at night because he hates sin and iniquity. “The night is far gone, and the day is near. So let us put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light!” (Rom 13:12).
God is speaking to someone humble, dark and small, like Samuel. So don't worry about the fact that you don't mean anything to anyone and that you are a small person. God wanted to talk to little Samuel, not to the great and famous Eli. You too can hear God calling at night and you will probably wake up in fear, staring into the darkness and listening carefully to the footsteps outside the door.
You can hear the voice of the Lord on the street or in a restaurant, at work or in a moment of breakdown when everyone has abandoned you, or while dancing, and certainly in a temple, even one where all the candles have gone out.
John's disciples followed Jesus, following an ordinary path that never ended for them and became a path of extraordinary experiences. You can even hear the voice of God when the darkness of your sins removes the light of hope and it seems to you that your life is an ordinary, gray path, one of a million.
You can always follow Jesus, but many pretend to follow Him and few really follow Him. By following Jesus, we follow a Person, His love. Not to suck up, feign piety, fulfill obligations, or satisfy personal claims.
Samuel served the Lord with an ungodly priest. A holy man is not bothered by anyone's impiety. The last sentence of the reading says that God did not allow any word that Samuel spoke to fall to the ground.
He didn't mince words - we would say in modern language. Everything Samuel said awakened others to the love of God. No word is wasted among those who experience every Word of God as an awakening.
Jesus asked the disciples, "What are you looking for?" This is an important question that forced students to think about the purpose of their fate. And what are you looking for? They asked him about the apartment, looking for a place to stay for themselves.
Meanwhile, living with Jesus means constantly walking, constantly rising from the darkness, waking up from the nightmare of sin, being ready to leave the comfort of one's own sleep just to obey His command. Only when you follow Jesus do you see what it means to live with God.
[media=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KTEUjrFI0N8]
When Jesus turned and saw them following Him, he asked them, "What are you looking for?" They said, "Rabbi - that is, teacher - where do you live?" He answered them, "Come and see."
So they went and saw where he lived. And on that day they remained with Him. This happened around ten o'clock. One of the two who heard John's words and followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.
He first sought out his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah,” that is, the Christ. Then he brought him to Jesus. When Jesus looked at him, he said, “You are Simon, the son of John. From now on your name will be Cephas, which means Peter.
Samuel received the word, but it was the word that pushed him towards man. He didn't understand it well, but he shared it with another person. He begins his story as a prophet in darkness, serving as a servant to the indifferent high priest Eli. He is deprived of support and deprived of many entertainments of this world. He slept modestly in the tabernacle, so he spent moments of darkness with God. God was enough for him.
God speaks in the darkness and wakes you up from the night. He speaks in darkness because he loves the secrets and solitude of his chosen ones: "And when the sun had set, and there was deep darkness, then the Lord made a covenant with Abram" (Genesis 15:17-18). The covenant with Abram was made in impenetrable darkness.
The patriarch's loneliness was filled with the presence of God. The greater the loneliness, the greater the chance of discovering the Presence. But God also wakes us up at night because he hates sin and iniquity. “The night is far gone, and the day is near. So let us put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light!” (Rom 13:12).
God is speaking to someone humble, dark and small, like Samuel. So don't worry about the fact that you don't mean anything to anyone and that you are a small person. God wanted to talk to little Samuel, not to the great and famous Eli. You too can hear God calling at night and you will probably wake up in fear, staring into the darkness and listening carefully to the footsteps outside the door.
You can hear the voice of the Lord on the street or in a restaurant, at work or in a moment of breakdown when everyone has abandoned you, or while dancing, and certainly in a temple, even one where all the candles have gone out.
John's disciples followed Jesus, following an ordinary path that never ended for them and became a path of extraordinary experiences. You can even hear the voice of God when the darkness of your sins removes the light of hope and it seems to you that your life is an ordinary, gray path, one of a million.
You can always follow Jesus, but many pretend to follow Him and few really follow Him. By following Jesus, we follow a Person, His love. Not to suck up, feign piety, fulfill obligations, or satisfy personal claims.
Samuel served the Lord with an ungodly priest. A holy man is not bothered by anyone's impiety. The last sentence of the reading says that God did not allow any word that Samuel spoke to fall to the ground.
He didn't mince words - we would say in modern language. Everything Samuel said awakened others to the love of God. No word is wasted among those who experience every Word of God as an awakening.
Jesus asked the disciples, "What are you looking for?" This is an important question that forced students to think about the purpose of their fate. And what are you looking for? They asked him about the apartment, looking for a place to stay for themselves.
Meanwhile, living with Jesus means constantly walking, constantly rising from the darkness, waking up from the nightmare of sin, being ready to leave the comfort of one's own sleep just to obey His command. Only when you follow Jesus do you see what it means to live with God.
