(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
How sad! A revelation from the Lord was infrequent. God had stopped talking to God’s own people. The people must have done something really bad, something like not paying attention to what God was saying: why should God speak if no one would listen?
It was dark, but a small light burned in the temple where Samuel slept. It would burn unto daybreak.
Samuel was young and had no experience of the Lord’s speaking because revelation from the Lord was not common. When Samuel heard someone call him, he instinctively ran to Eli. Three times he ran to Eli before Eli finally caught on that the Lord was calling the boy. Until Eli had that insight, Samuel must have felt frustrated by the futility of running back and forth from bed to Eli.
Samuel went back to bed, and when he heard the voice call out, “Samuel, Samuel”, Samuel listened. When Samuel listened, God again was speaking to God’s own people because someone was listening. This story ends with the remark that Samuel always listened to the word of God and did not permit any word of God to be without effect.
If we think that God does not answer our prayers, it may be that we have not listened to God’s word. If we do not stop talking, if we do not listen, we will not hear God’s voice to us, God’s response to our prayers.
How sad that there was a time in the people’s lives when revelation from the Lord was uncommon and vision infrequent. How sad it would be for us if we should stop hearing God’s word and it become as if God were not talking to us anymore.
Samuel listened and was recognized as a great prophet of the Lord. If we listen, we too could become accredited prophets of the Lord.