1 SAMUEL

1: 1-8 - Contributing as We Can

One of the most fascinating aspects of exploring humanity is recognizing the differences between each individual person. Part of the success of a human society is that each person contributes to the collective according to their talents and abilities, which allows us to thrive when we work and live together. Our differences are a necessary part of what makes the human race unique on earth; we are only as successful as far as we work together. Working together means doing what we are able to do, and unfortunately, that means some people are capable of playing far greater societal roles than others. Both are necessary. In our human weakness, though, we sometimes place greater importance on those who take on the more “important” roles of a society while looking down on those who operate “lesser” roles. This could cause us to give into despair, bitterness, and resentment towards God.

It’s nearly impossible to avoid comparing our abilities to others. As a culture, we place such importance on social media and celebrity, which bombards us with profiles of some of society’s most talented and powerful people, from athletes to musicians to politicians. By doing so, we are bound to feel insignificant, especially if we contribute to our communities in a much smaller way, simply because we focus on what others have that we do not. Today’s first reading shares a heartbreaking story of Hannah, who was her husband’s more beloved wife (he had another) but was barren. Even though she was childless and the other wife had children, Hannah had the favor of her husband. But even we can acknowledge the disappointment of Hannah when she is reminded of this: even though she is favored by her husband, she still does not have the thing she wants most. When we compare our own abilities to others, we are placed in the same situation. How can we focus on and appreciate the abilities we do have when we are faced with the bitter reality that we will never have those we want?

Just as we all play a crucial role in our societies and communities, whether that be large or small, we each individually play a part in God’s plan for humanity. As Catholics, we have been blessed with the opportunity to acknowledge the Truth, when so many around us have tuned it out. As a result, so many in the future will never have the opportunity to learn the Truth except through us. This was the same expectation placed upon the Apostles when they were called by Christ; not everyone would experience God made man personally, so it was the duty of these men to share Him with the world. It does not matter how you contribute to this sharing of the Truth. Stop focusing on what you want for yourself, and start focusing on how you can help and love others with what you have. As a member of the Church of Truth, you are called to be a part of something greater than yourself. 

Saint Anthony the Great, also known as Saint Anthony of the Desert, was one of the first Christians to detach himself from the world in order to live a life of asceticism. By our standards of living today, it was an extreme choice; he went out to live in the desert by himself to focus completely on the worship of God. His extreme life for the sake of the glorification of God even went so far as his diet: he would only eat bread and drink water, abstaining from meat and wine. Not only is it difficult for us to imagine ourselves trying to live this way, we would think anyone who actively chooses this lifestyle to be mad. But Anthony knew some might question his sanity. He famously said, “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’”

We often reduce God’s place in our life to such a minuscule role, either by praying infrequently or rarely attending Mass. Meanwhile, the rest of our time is spent lingering in the distractions of materialism where we are placated and content because we are constantly enjoying the things of this world. The things of this world have their place and time and can be good in moderation, but when they become dominant in our lives, we have replaced God as our greatest love. When this happens, we risk losing our relationship with God. If we wanted to establish a relationship with any person, we would invest time and effort into them so that they knew we desired closeness. It works the same way with God - if we spend too little time with Him, we may get to a point of not even recognizing Him. In this passage from the first book of Samuel, we hear how recognition of God is inevitable when all is said and done; the question is whether we will recognize God for His glory or out of our fear of Him.

Hannah desperately desired a child and promised that, if God gave her a son, she would dedicate him as someone who has abandoned the pleasures of earthly things for the sake of God. Ironically, Eli, a holy man, thinks she is drunk because he is not used to seeing such deep faith in others. In the Gospel, even the demons within a man will recognize Jesus’ divinity because they fear he will exorcise them. If we were to see someone speaking the words uttered by this possessed man today, there is a good chance we may simply consider him to be mad. This is what happens when we truly recognize God in front of others: we will be seen as mad, drunk, strange, etc. But when we know we have the Truth and insist on maintaining a relationship with God regardless of what the people around us might think and choose to recognize Him for His glory, He will recognize us in return.

Prayer is approaching God in either remorse, gratitude, or petition. Think of how often you pray on your own volition; outside of the sacraments, outside of devotions or special prayers associated with the church, and outside of prayers you may have memorized, when do you pray and what do you pray for? When our spirituality is weak, as is the case for most of us, we may not be stirred to pray out of remorse unless our backs are up against the wall. In the same way, we may not be stirred to pray out of gratitude because if we truly understood what God has given us in our lives, we would never stop praying in gratitude. Spontaneous prayers are most often prayers of petition - asking God for something over time or immediately is the most basic human response to wanting to speak with Him and to go to Him. 

Our initial acknowledgement that we most often go to God asking for things might make us uncomfortable; it sounds deeply selfish that, more so than being remorseful for our sins or grateful for our gifts, we want certain things that can be only given by God. However, we ought not think this way because the prayer of petition has the potential to be a profoundly powerful way to express our relationship with God, we simply need to make sure these prayers are appropriate and properly oriented. First, think to yourself what you are asking for. Then, think to yourself why you are asking for it. Is what you are asking God for something that will make you holier and capable of better serving him? Are you asking for it to serve God or to serve yourself? There’s nothing wrong with constantly asking God for something; in fact, He desires that we do so, as expressed throughout Christ’s public ministry. But what we ask for and why we ask for it matters. We could simply ask for things to consume for our own personal enjoyment, or we can emulate the Old Testament figure Hannah, who is barren and asks God for a child. We would naturally assume that Hannah desires a child for the same reason any person would desire a child of their own: someone to love, someone to form, someone to carry on her legacy. Having a child is to express the most intimate love a human could give because there is literally a part of you in them. But after having a miraculous child whom she names Samuel, Hannah does not dote on her son. She does not form him as he grows older. He will not carry on her legacy because she does not raise him. Instead, she immediately leaves him in the Temple, to be loved, formed, and to grow there. She gives back to God that which she so passionately petitioned for.

To have a child is to love, to form, and to influence as they become individuals of their own. This is a lifelong process often, but Hannah understood that her situation was not just different, it was divine. Samuel was literally a miracle child. As he came into this world under miraculous circumstances, he was created with perfect love, perfect formation, and perfectly influenced by the grace of God. Hannah understood that only God could give the boy these perfect elements of being a child, so she gave him back to God out of a perfect love of her own. This is what we are called to do with the gifts we ask for. We will always be granted them as long as we dedicate them to God. This cannot be done merely with a prayer or a ritual; it’s a total sacrifice of what you want because it is a recognition that it is not your own - it belongs to God. God gave us His Son, too, just as Hannah gave hers. Through the gift of His Son, we were loved, formed, and influenced to perfection. We ought to try to give back to God in the same way He gave to us.

The power of God is enough to overcome any attempt by the efforts of man to control the world. It has happened so many times before in our history: selfish dictators, power-hungry empires, cults of hedonism and materialism have all been eventually defeated both by their own flaws and by the power of goodness that comes from God. When we look at the world around us today, it is daunting to think that, although these forces have been defeated in the past, they still exist today in some form or another. What is even more frightening is the fact that these dictators, empires, and societal cults are succeeding in their selfish aims. These are the reasons why we might remain hopeless, doubtful of God’s providence, or angry at His permission of suffering. 

Hopelessness, doubt, and anger are nothing new. Time and time again, we are faced with crises that evoke these negative emotions, and time and time again, God has calmed those fears. However, he calms our fears on His terms; it is arrogant to think that we could simply tell God, “I don’t like this, make it stop,” and He would obey us. When we experience suffering, especially at the hands of others, we have the opportunity to do many things that will be good for us: we can recognize that resistance and obstacles are good for our growth, being powerless in a situation necessitates trusting in God, and we can realize that God often brings about tremendous good from the bad actions of other humans. In the moment of suffering, none of these are all that comforting to hear because we simply want alleviation. But in those moments of suffering, we should strive to grow, trust, and hope, because it is all that we can do. God has consistently shown He will enact justice and bring about peace, but we must trust that He will do so at the perfect moment, because He always has.

The worst thing we could do in times of crisis or suffering is attempt to use God as a secret weapon or as an invincibility shield against the terrible powers of the world. This is exactly what the Israelites did in this passage from the first book of Samuel after questioning how God could allow them to lose in battle to their enemy. In response, they take God and parade Him in the Ark of the Covenant as if He was a weapon; obviously this did not work and the Israelites lost again. God does not fight the frivolous battles that men carry out in their weakness that have no lasting power. Instead, God’s power is reserved to protect us against those horrible things that do eternal damage to us, namely sin and death. In Christ, God conquered sin and destroyed death, not with the powers of warfare, but with the power of His mere words. This should remind us that when we are in the face of the temporary power of bad people, the eternal power of God will always protect us.

When we start to grow older and begin to look after the well-being of the youth in our community, we attempt to guide them and offer them advice that we wish we heard when we were their age. One of the most important pieces of advice we give them is to not bow to peer pressure. It is one of the most prevalent issues for young people; social status is crucial to their development and self-esteem, and the possibility of being a social outcast is far worse for them than the possibility of being led astray. Another issue is that when we grow up and mature and have the ability to reflect on our own past mistakes, we forget just how difficult it is to be in a situation that could lead young people to bow to peer pressure.

This is not a “silly” problem that only young people face; we deal with peer pressure everyday and at every age. When the society and culture in which we live do not share the same values as the faith which we profess, we are bound to face the same quandary. What will we do when society will judge us or even punish us for sticking to the tenets of our faith rather than go along with what is popular? More seriously, how much of our own individual consciences have been malformed by the poor ethics of society rather than properly formed by the consistent ethic of our faith? Clearly, peer pressure is not an issue that goes away with youth. It is a daily struggle of ours, even when we do not realize it. This passage from the first book of Samuel shows us a perfect example of this. Israel was a chosen people and was given sovereignty by God and God alone. They were in a unique position compared to the surrounding nations in that they were not led by a fallible man, but rather an infallible God. God chose to rule Israel through the powers of certain men, who were imperfect because of their humanity. Rather than appreciate their uniquely close relationship with the one true God, Israel instead focused on the errors of their leaders and desired to be like everyone else. They demanded Samuel to give them a king. God granted them their request, albeit with disappointment that they did not appreciate His gift of divine authority.

As Catholics, we have a uniquely close relationship with God, both spiritually and physically. We should contemplate on this scripture reading seriously: if we desire to throw away the uniqueness directly given to us by God in order to conform to the things of this world, either as individuals or institutionally, we will simultaneously do great harm to ourselves and disappoint God in our ingratitude. We have continually made this error throughout our history, even as the chosen people of God. Now is our opportunity to rise above the pressure of society, to live in this world and to share God to the world, but to not be of this world. 

There is a common archetype in storytelling of a “chosen one”, a single individual whose destiny it is to save the world, save their community, etc. It tends to be utilized in some of society’s favorite stories because it is a powerful tool. The Chosen One archetype tends to be an individual from a simple and unknown background who is picked out by a mentor or a guide for the epic journey that lies in front of them. Even Scripture is rife with this archetype, from Moses to David to apparently even Jesus himself. Perhaps this archetype is used so often that we now brush off any story that uses it as trite and unoriginal. However, its use within Scripture teaches us a powerful message about the nature of humanity, represented in these individual “chosen one” characters. 

The first book of Samuel covers significant moments in the earliest history of the Kingdom of Israel and its formation under men crucial to the story of Salvation, from the calling of the great prophet Samuel to the important historical figures who existed in his time. In this particular passage, we are introduced to Saul, the person who God tells Samuel should be the king that Israel has asked for. Although impressive in his appearance, Saul came from an unassuming background. He did not seek this position; he was “destined” for it. We will learn as this story progresses that Saul is a complicated and flawed figure; he seems to have tremendous potential for goodness within him, but he will eventually capitulate to the allure of power. In contrast, Saul’s great conflict is with another “chosen one” figure, David. David, who seems just as complex and flawed as Saul, who makes disastrous mistakes and does terrible things, never lets the allure of sin overcome his love for God. This is the powerful message we should take away from this story as it unfolds: we are all, in our own way, a “chosen” figure, chosen by God for a specific role. We are all the protagonists of our own story with our own individual call to adventure. This does not determine whether we are good or bad; our own actions determine our behavior. Saul teaches us the possible pitfalls of this position while David teaches us the power of redemption and humility.

How does Jesus factor into this? Jesus is actually not a “chosen one” archetype. He appears to be, since he is the literal Messiah of his people, and the Savior of humanity. He even came from humble beginnings. But Jesus is not a character who is called by God for a mission. Jesus is the one who calls us on our mission. We are the “chosen ones” and he is the one who chooses. When he calls on you (and he already has), it is your responsibility to model yourselves after figures like David or the Apostles. Be led by hope, redemption, and love. It is a struggle, and as figures like Saul and Judas teach us, our power over the allure of sin is not guaranteed. You have been chosen, so act as the person God has called you to be. 

Jesus was the personification of the history of Israel. In his life, he retraced the steps of Israel and the nation’s relationship with God. Because of this, he is considered a new Adam (as Son of God), a new Abraham (as arbiter of the New Covenant), a new Moses (as redeemer of God’s people), and a new David (as the king of kings). However, there is something crucial about Jesus representing Israel: unlike those who came before him, he remained faithful to God at all times and acted as they should have when called by the Lord. By doing so, he set an example for us: great and powerful things will happen when we say yes to God and continuously do His will.   

The first and second books of Samuel tell fascinating stories; they follow the career and trajectory of David, the chosen king of Israel after Saul fails in his office. These stories capture every element of the human experience: there is political intrigue, murder, war, redemption, victory, and honor. David is a flawed figure who commits horrific acts, but in the great care he has for the role God chose for him and in his sincere remorse, he shows us that anyone can be forgiven by God and used by Him to bring about tremendous good in the world. David was seen as the king of Israel, the savior of his citizens, and the one who brought about victory for God’s chosen people. His office as king was much more profound than mere political power; he was chosen specifically by God to lead Israel and was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel, an act that was reserved for those things considered most holy, like the priests, prophets, and holy vessels. In this act, God designated the kingship of David to be something of divine origin. By the time of Christ, the people of Israel were expecting a new kingly figure like David, and referred to this promised savior as the Messiah, meaning “anointed one”. 

As the new David and the long-expected Messiah, Jesus was also anointed. He received a spiritual anointing by the Holy Spirit at his baptism, but also a literal anointing when a woman poured oil over his head and feet at Bethany. This was a crowning of Jesus as king of kings. This was an indication to those in attendance that his sacrifice to come was of divine origin, and that he was priest, prophet, and king. By having his feet anointed, he showed us that the path on which he was going was blessed by God, and that it is proper for us to follow him. He was going to his death, and even says that he was being anointed by this woman for burial. In every action of his, Jesus indicated to us how God’s chosen people should act. As our king, as the new David, Jesus exercises his authority by requesting that we follow in his footsteps. Even to the point of death, we must follow our king.

Many of us have an unfortunate tendency to compare ourselves to others. There are so many details that make up a unique and individual person, but we tend to dissect these details about ourselves, focus on one, and compare it to that of another person. Not only is this an extremely unhealthy thing to do, it breaks down how we should see ourselves - who we are in our entirety. Additionally, God created us the way we are, placed us where we were meant to be, and gave to us the opportunities that we needed in order to live and express ourselves in the most authentic way possible. To compare certain details about ourselves to others limits our ability to thank God for who we were meant to be.

This goes beyond certain traits or characteristics; our insecurities can also bleed their way into our relationships. In the famous saga found in the books of Samuel, we see a good example of this in the relationship between Saul and David. Saul was able to become king only because God deemed it so. God instructed Samuel to go and find him in his youth, to pick him out, and to anoint him as king for the people. This was not an office that Saul ascended to out of a hunger for power. This alone should have been enough for Saul to be secure in his abilities and in the love that both his people and God had for him. Instead, Saul noticed the talents and popularity of the young David, and could not help but compare himself with this new public figure in Israel. The problem with Saul’s jealousy of David was that, by comparing himself to David, Saul conflated David’s superior talents as a personal attack. By allowing himself to be blinded by comparison, Saul completely disregarded that God desired him to be king; if David was evil enough to take away the kingship that was Saul’s by divine right, David would have to answer to God for that, and Saul would still be protected by God elsewhere. As we know, Saul became corrupted by this jealousy to the point that God needed to take the kingship away from him, and David was able to succeed without the impediment of insecurity. 

Much of our life is not predetermined; but God has predetermined a calling for us, and we have the choice to accept this calling or reject it. When He calls us, He does so with the wisdom that it is how we can best express ourselves and best serve Him, even if we may not want it. The worst thing we can do is give in to the insecurities that blind us from this calling, and to compare ourselves to others, feeding jealousy and bitterness towards those around us. You are who you are because God desired it to be so. But that does not mean our present situations are predetermined. Ask yourself if you have accepted who God has called you to be, because this is the only way we can be secure in ourselves.

As a perfect embodiment of what humanity was always meant to be, Jesus teaches us how to respond to the pull of temptation from the forces of evil that surround us. We cannot control whether or not we will be tempted or persecuted, but we can control how we respond to temptation and persecution. The first step in following the right path towards God is asking yourself this: what would you sacrifice for the sake of others and for the sake of God? There is nothing more valuable than a human life, and to sacrifice your own life for the sake of others or for the sake of God expresses plainly that you value love over your own life. This is why the Church was founded on God sacrificing Himself for us, and why the Church was built up by those who offered their own lives for God in return.

Today, the Church encounters different moments of human history and those who show that one’s own life is worth giving for the sake of love. King David shows this in two ways. Saul is actively searching for him throughout the country in order to kill him, but David is given an opportunity to kill Saul out of self-defense. By all accounts, it seems David would have been justified in defending his life by ending the life of the one who posed a persistent threat to his own. But for David, self-protection is less important than trying to show Saul that he loves him and does not desire to take what belongs to him. By sparing Saul and showing him that he will not kill him, David puts his life at great risk, but only out of an authentic love for his king. In the Gospel, Jesus calls the twelve men who will serve him and build up the Church after his time on earth. All but one of these men were martyred for Jesus, going to their deaths with joy because their love for Christ was greater than their love for their own lives. The one who was not martyred dedicated his long life in service to Christ and the promulgation of the Gospel to the earliest Church community. This testament to the Truth of the Gospel carried over to the Christian community and strengthened the belief in Christ’s resurrection. One only has to look at those early Christians to see the powerful example that martyrdom has on others living out their faith and even going to their own death for Christ. Take St. Agnes for example, a young Roman noblewoman and a member of the early Christian Church. Agnes was killed because her authentic love for Christ was far greater than her love for her own life, her own people, and her social status. She learned this from the other early Christians who gave up their lives for Christ, thus becoming who Christ was for them.

Agnes represents the continuity and the reciprocal love that makes the Church authentic and true. Agnes is always associated with a lamb (especially because her name is so similar to agnus, the Latin word for “lamb”) - in every part of her identity, she modeled herself after her greatest love, Jesus Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God. It is admirable of all the people who have given their life for God and for Christ, but what makes the love of our faith so wonderful is that God first committed that act of love for us. He conquered sin and death purely out of love for us by first descending into the human act of dying. To die for love is the ultimate expression of our humanity, and it is how we best model Christ. If we are not meant to give up our life through death, we can do what figures like David and John the Apostle did: we can still give up our own lives by dedicating them and sacrificing the life we could selfishly lead in service to the ones we love.

It should be the life goal of every human being to strive our best to model the behavior of God. If we are truly made in his image and likeness, then we should attempt to reflect that as best we can. But when we consider this lofty goal, there is a strong possibility that we completely forget about how we behave towards God. We can be forgetful, unkind, or apathetic towards God working in our lives, yet expect Him to continue to treat us with love and mercy. In his infinite goodness, God will continue to love us despite our treatment towards Him, but do we do the same to others when they mistreat us? 

It is almost expected of us to behave out of anger when we have been slighted by others. We forget about the healing power of forgiveness, and instead wish to inflict pain on others in the same way it was inflicted on us. When we decide to act out of vengeance and wrath, we are essentially trying to take into our own hands what is ultimately exclusive to the power of God. So often, we hear parables and fables that warn us against acting out of our emotions rather than our rationality. But we rarely hear stories about those who choose to do the right thing instead of acting emotionally. This is precisely what we get in this passage from the first book of Samuel: David has the opportunity to kill his enemy Saul in his sleep. But David is guided by the principles of God’s sovereignty and refuses to take the life of the anointed king of Israel; Saul’s life is not David’s to take. It is the principle of acting justly in the eyes of the Lord that both protects David and rewards him in his future. This is not meant to be seen as a result of karma, but as a lesson that preserving what God Himself has instituted (in this case, the king of Israel) will allow His blessings to persist and multiply towards those who protect it. In order for David to do so, he had to momentarily set his emotions aside and forgive Saul. We are called to do the same towards our enemies.

The foundational understanding of how we actively model ourselves after God is to actively model ourselves after God-made-man: Jesus Christ. Jesus is the New Adam, who came to undo the fall by offering us an opportunity to overcome the sin that bound humanity since our time in the garden. We are quick to compare ourselves with Adam, who acted on an impulse which subsequently became equated with human nature. But Saint Paul tells us that the humanity we share with Christ is just as authentic as the humanity we share with the original Adam. Sin, which we can sometimes acknowledge on a daily basis in our bitterness and impatience towards others, limits us to temporary and earthly things. A life in Christ, when we model God the best we can, acknowledges those things that are beyond this specific moment. It acknowledges the heavenly part of us that was instilled in us the moment we were created. We discover that heavenly reflection in forgiveness and patience.