January 14, 2026 -- Wednesday of the 1st Week "B"
1 Samuel 3,1-10. 19-20; Mk 1,29-39
H O M I L Y
Two days ago, the Gospel described to us the call of the First Apostles. Today, in the first reading we have the call of the great judge and prophet of Israel in the Old Testament, Samuel. We saw yesterday how he was born as an answer to an ardent prayer of his mother, who had promised to consecrate him to the Lord. So, we find him in today's reading, as a young boy already ministering in the Temple.
Four times during a night he hears his name called: "Samuel, Samuel!". The first three times he goes straight to his master, the priest Eli, and says "Here I am". The old priest Eli is very patient. He does not scold the young man for awakening him each time. But on the third time he realizes that it must be the Lord calling Samuel. The young boy hears the calling a fourth time and, following the recommendation of Eli, he says: "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening". And it is the beginning of a long dialogue between the Lord and Samuel. The Lord will speak to him very often, and he will always not only listen, but also act according to the Lord's word. As the text says, using a beautiful figure of style, he "let no word of (the Lord) fall to the ground".
Let us listen to all the calls of the Lord in our lives. Maybe in many cases we don't realize that the call comes from Him and we attribute it to various human beings. Let us be more attentive and say: "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening".
And in the Gospel we have once more the example of Jesus listening to his Father. After a very successful beginning of his ministry in Galilee, Jesus realizes that he must make a decision. He then does what he does every time he has an important decision to make, he goes up to a lonely place and prays. There he hears the voice of his Father, and when his disciples find him his decision has been made: "Let us go elsewhere, to the neighboring country towns..."
This is another message for us. We often have decisions to make -- at times very important ones. There is only one way of making sure that the voice we hear is from God. It is by going off to solitude and pray. When we are in prayer the voice of the Lord becomes clear and very distinguishable from all the other voices that constantly pull us in all directions.
Armand Veilleux