For many generations, the people of Ancient Israel had been led by a confederation of tribes, but God brought forth leaders in the form of priests and prophets throughout Israel's history to lead his people. The tribes were supposed to help and protect each other, but often they were too weak or too disorganized to be effective. Many of the books of the Old Testament show the failures that happened to the people of Ancient Israel because of their lack of true unity.
In our first reading, the people approach Samuel. They want a king after seeing the nations around them prosper and gain military victories through the leadership of kings. Samuel responds to the people by stating that they already have a king, that they simply need to be more faithful to the king that they already have. But, to the people, having God as their king is not good enough; they want more, they want what their neighbors have: a human king to lead them.
Isn't that so much a part of our human nature today as well? Often, what we have isn't good enough for us. So many in our society and in our world today envy the prosperity and success of their neighbors. Samuel tells the people of Israel what it will cost them when they make things other than God their king. The same is true for us today. The people of Israel refuse to listen to Samuel. And what about us? Are we listening?
We celebrated one of the Desert Fathers earlier in the week – Paul of Thebes. Today we celebrate the most honored of the Desert Fathers – Anthony of Egypt. Anthony sold his large inheritance at the age of 20 and moved to the solitude of the desert. The Desert Fathers, like Anthony of Egypt, exemplified a simplicity and silence of faith in the solitude the sought in the desert as hermits. It reminds all of us how important our prayer life is to our faith, how we are to search out those quiet moments where we are to find God’s presence. May we never forget that.
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