CULTIVATING DIVINE AUTHORITY


WEDNESDAY, FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 

1 Sam 3:1-10,19-20; Ps 40:2,5,7-10; Mk 1:29-39

Speak Lord for Your Servant is Listening

To work with divine authority or power, we need to harmonise our will with the divine will in all things. To achieve this requires the development of a sixth sense or spiritual ear for listening to the voice of God or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us. The necessary conditions for the development of the spiritual ear include the following. First, the moderation of the use of the physical senses, which are doors leading to our minds and hearts from outside. If these portals are not guarded by strong gates and locks, allowing us to admit only what we judge beneficial to our souls and the tender spiritual works of grace taking place within us, we can never develop the spiritual ear to hear, discern, and follow the voice of the Lord within. Second, we must nurture a love for silence. This comes as a result of the first, for we must be at home within ourselves when the noise of the external world is shut out. It is in silence that we discover and interact with God. Saint John supported this in his first letter (2:15) when he said that love for God does not exist in one who is in love with the world, for what is in the world is sensual love and love of possessions. Third, there is a need to develop a deep prayer life. Interior life gives birth to deep prayer communion with God; to hear his voice, we must regularly lift our minds and hearts to him.    

The development of these principles of spiritual communion with God is not easy; in fact, it is impossible without the grace assisting us. One of the requirements for the development is a conducive environment. We see this play out in the life of Samuel; His mother, Hannah, predisposed him for the role he was to play as the prophet of God by dedicating him to the Temple. Living and growing up in the Temple under the priest Eli prepared him to hear and interact with God. We read that Samuel was lying in the sanctuary of the Lord when he heard the voice of God. “The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying in the sanctuary of the Lord where the ark of God was, when the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ He answered, ‘Here I am.’ Hence, being physically, psychologically, and emotionally near God is needed for the development of these principles of spiritual communion with God. Having a spiritual guide is also needed for growth in spiritual communion. Eli, the priest, needed to direct Samuel on how to listen and understand the will of God. “Go and lie down, and if someone calls, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” All these contributed to making Samuel a great prophet. “Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him and let no word of his fall to the ground.” He lived in union with God and worked with divine authority.

These requirements are also visibly fulfilled in the life of our Lord, as we see in the
Gospel. Being the Eternal Word, the Son of Man was always in communion with the Father as the Incarnate of the Son of God. As a man, he kept his regular communion and prayer time with God the Father. “In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.” Since working with divine authority requires that we know the will of God and align our will with it, mortification of our own unruly will is necessary. We must also have a deep faith in the word of God and lovingly harbour the word of God in our hearts, letting it inform our daily thoughts, words, and actions. Everything in creation obeys the will of God. So, nothing obeys us because of who we are. They obey the will of God when we live and express it. Our goal must not be to have demons or creatures obey us, but rather that we may be found to be one with the will of God, which every creature is bound to obey. Creatures will not obey us if we are disobedient to the will of God. The will of God, which we express by thoughts, words, and actions, is what creatures, especially demons, obey. God did not let Samuel’s words fall to the ground because they expressed his divine will. God does not let his word fall to the ground, irrespective of the medium of its expression. We would become prophets of God when we sincerely say: “Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.”

Let us pray: Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care, O Lord, we pray, that they may see what your divine will decrees must be done and gain strength to do what they have seen. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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