The elders and the people of Israel
approached Samuel, the judge chosen by God, demanding a king just like all the
nations around them. Both Samuel and God
knew that the people were demanding this not out of their faith and not out of
their obedience to God, but rather in rejecting God and turning once again to
the worship of idols. This time, they
demanded an idol in the form of a king.
God instructed Samuel to warn the people of the high cost of a king, but
the people were oblivious to his warning and to the seriousness of their sin. The people were ecstatic in anticipating a
new king for their nation. Since the
people knew that the king must be of God's choosing, it fell upon Samuel as
God's judge to choose a king. The events
that we hear in today's first reading bring Saul into contact with Samuel in a
way that makes the prophet certain that Saul is God’s choice to be Israel’s
king.
Think about how we encourage and
choose young men and women to enter a vocation in the Church, how we encourage
people to become priests and deacons, monks and religious sisters, lay leaders
and catechists. As we hear in today's
first reading, God chooses specific individuals for certain ministries &
leadership roles. It is up to us to
discern God's will and to follow his calling.
As we hear how God chose a king for
his people, may we be aware of the different ways God is calling us in our
lives, how we all have vocations as followers of Christ. May we thank God for the vocations that we
have, and pray for the courage and fortitude to follow his will for us in our
lives.
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