Call & Response

So I’m often asked, “so Father… what made you want to become a priest?” And usually I begin with the story of how I discovered God’s goodness in nature or how I experienced his immense Love at a retreat or how in the silence of the desert, I discovered His voice.

But if I was honest, perhaps it began in the parking lot of Willowbrook Mall.

I think I was probably 9 or 10 at the time, and so being 9-10 I didn’t drive yet. And my brothers and I would always fear what we jokingly called “being kidnapped.” You know where your parents tell you, hey let’s go to McDonalds for lunch, and as a 10 year old you’re like “yay!” but what they DON’T tell you, is that AFTER McDonalds, we are going to go to our aunts, and then we are going to go grocery shopping and then we are going to stop by my parent’s friends place. And before you know it you’re whole Saturday is gone.

So this one Saturday, this began to happen. We went to eat and then went to my aunts to pick up my Grandfather and then we went to Willowbrook Mall. So that day it wasn’t all that bad…

But when we got to the Mall, all of us jumped out of the van and was ready to go, and my grandfather told my parents that he didn’t want to go in and he was going to stay in the van. So I thought to myself, “Ok that’s weird, who doesn’t want to go to the mall?” But I didn’t give it much thought.

So we went inside the mall and walked around for a long time looking at things and shopping. We were there for over 2 hours. The kids went around looking at the games store and toy stores, while my mom slowly looked at all the clothes on sale at Macy’s. And if you know my mom, you know that is a 2-hour ordeal.

After we all finished, we left the mall and walked back to the van. And suddenly I remembered that my grandfather was still in the van, this whole time! As we open the doors to the van, I remember seeing him there peacefully praying his rosary.

In the middle of the parking lot of Willowbrook Mall, for two hours, he had been praying…

I tell you this because I want to say that it was my grandfather’s faith that began to teach me the importance of my own faith. Later I would see my own mom doing the same at home, spending hours in prayer. It is those vivid experiences that when I began to pray myself, that I knew what it looked like.

Today in the first reading, we hear the call of Samuel. But just like my call, the story of Samuel begins actually with his mother, Hannah.

If you remember the story, Hannah is married but cannot have a child. She waits and waits but she is unable. Hannah then goes to the temple weeping bitterly to God and praying for a child. As she is praying silently Eli sees her and thinks she’s drunk. She explains her situation and with Eli’s blessing, she is finally able to conceive.

When Samuel is born, what does she do? Hannah gives him up to the LORD, she hands him to Eli so that he can serve him in the temple. And as he grew, Hannah visited him often in the temple.

You see, the priest Eli was actually not a good priest, and so one can assume that Samuel learned his faith and how to listen to the LORD through Hannah. It was Hannah who learned to wait on the LORD, it was Hannah who trusted the LORD completely give back her son to the LORD, the son she had always longed for. It is here that we find young Samuel in the temple.

There’s an interesting line in the first reading today, that I’ve never noticed whenever the call of Samuel was read. I’m not sure if you noticed but the LORD calls Samuel three times and three times he runs to the temple priest Eli thinking it was him. And in the midst of the call the scripture says, “At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet.”

Although Samuel had learned how to wait and listen to the LORD, he had not heard and responded to him just yet.

My brothers and sisters, this is the two parts of our faith, and you can say the two parts of prayer. The first is what Samuel does, what he had learned from Hannah. Which is to place ourselves in the presence of the LORD, to abide with him. When the LORD called Samuel he was sleeping in the temple where the ark of God was. As Christians we need to often place ourselves in the presence of the LORD, yes on Sundays for Mass, but every day as well. As I learned from my grandfather, you don’t need to be in a chapel, the Willowbrook Mall parking lot works just fine. Everyday, we need to place ourselves in front of the LORD and say, “Here I am Lord, I come to do you will.”

I say this, to the parents, it matters to your children whether or not you pray. It matters what you do or don’t do, what you say or don’t say. Just like it mattered for me, just like it mattered for Samuel. As St. Paul expressed in the second reading: It matters what you do with your bodies, with your time, with your life. Others will see it, your children will see it.

Which comes to the second part of prayer: Our response. If you know anything about Samuel you know that when God called him, he wasn’t called to be a king or savior or leader. No, he was called to be one of the last judges and his job was simply to anoint the Kings. His call was to “point to the King.” This is what John the Baptist did as he was with his disciples. As Jesus walked by, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” And directs his followers towards Christ.

And notice what happens… the two disciples follow Jesus and Jesus asks them “What are you looking for?” to which they respond, “Where are you staying…” And so Jesus invites them to come and see and so they go and stay with Jesus.

Notice the cycle that happens here. John the Baptist points out Christ, others come to him, they themselves enter into the presence of God and stay with him and then the next day, Andrew goes out to his brother Simon Peter and points him to God.

This is our call as Christians as well. Today we are called to do these two things:

First, to put ourselves in the presence of God daily and to abide with him. Then secondly, we are called to point out to others the one true King, Jesus Christ in all that we do.

May the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist abide in you and you in him and may the Eucharist transform your life to point others to Christ, who is the source of all our joy.