Listening for God’s Voice Today

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026 – First Week in Ordinary Time – Year A, Cycle 2

1 Samuel 3:1–10, Psalm 40:2, 5, 7–10, Mark 1:29–39

"Here am I, Lord; I come to do Your will."

Our first reading tells the story of how God called Samuel the prophet. He was young, but he was already a minister of the Lord and was being trained under Eli, the high priest, at the temple in Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was located. Samuel was actually sleeping in the room where the Ark of the Covenant was kept when God called him. Upon hearing God’s call, he said, “Here I am,” but didn’t understand that it was the Lord calling. He thought it was Eli. After Samuel mistook God’s call for Eli’s three times, Eli understood that God was calling Samuel. He told him, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’” God did call again, and Samuel answered. He grew up, and the Lord was with him. Samuel was blessed to have a man of God like Eli to study under. Eli gave him good advice and helped him recognize God’s voice when He called.

Two weeks before I was ordained a deacon, my entire class attended a silent retreat at Cedarbreak Retreat Center in Belton. It was there that I gained an important insight about this Scripture passage concerning my upcoming service as a deacon. This Scripture about the calling of Samuel was one of the Scriptures we were asked to read, pray over, and then write what we felt God was trying to tell us through it.

I was in Adoration in the chapel at Cedarbreak, at a kneeler about five feet from Jesus in the Eucharist. One of my classmates was also there and was seated in the back row of the chapel. My classmate didn’t know it, but during that time, I was receiving a personal message from the Lord. When my encounter with the Lord had finished, I noticed that my classmate was no longer in the back of the chapel but was now kneeling beside me. I turned to him and said, “You might not believe this, but I just got a personal message from Jesus.” He said, “No kidding, I did too. That’s why I moved up to the front with you.”

He went on to say that he was reading and praying over the call of Samuel, and he was putting himself in Samuel’s place in the story. He felt that God was calling him and was replying as Samuel did, “Here I am, Lord.”

He understood that he would be ordained a deacon in just a few weeks, and he saw himself, like Samuel, as a person called by God and ready to serve. However, in a way, he was making it about himself and what he was going to do for the Lord based on his own abilities. Also, he was unwittingly ignoring Jesus Christ Himself, who was just across the room, desiring that he come and spend some time with Him. Eventually, he looked up and saw Jesus in the Eucharist as he was repeating the words of Samuel, “Here I am, Lord.” Then he heard Jesus say to him, “No, here I am; come and adore.” At that moment, he dropped everything and came and knelt before the Lord.

The Lord is always calling us to Himself, but on this particular day, my classmate and I got personal invitations. The insight I received was that in my busyness, doing all the work of a deacon, if I didn’t keep my focus on Jesus, my ministry would not be successful. That, in many ways, would be a farce. Of course, I already knew this, but this encounter sealed it in my heart and mind.

If we look back on our lives, it’s not difficult to recall those priests, deacons, family, and friends who helped us grow in our life of faith, especially those who may have recognized in us the qualities needed to be a servant of God and His Church. They may have encouraged us to consider becoming a Priest, Deacon, or Sister, a Lector or an Extraordinary Minister, a member of the Pastoral Council, or a CCE teacher, and a multitude of other forms of service important to a parish and parish community. Like Samuel, even when we didn’t yet understand we were being called by God or believed we were unworthy or unprepared to serve Him in these ways, others did see it in us and supported us in giving God our yes.

Looking for the qualities in others that give them the ability to serve God in any number of capacities is something we should always be doing. When we recognize these qualities, we should encourage them and ask them to pray, asking God if this is the calling He has for them. Prayer is the critical component to knowing if a calling is from God or of our own making.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus gives us the example of how we should discern and live our calling from God, whatever it may be. It illustrates for us that Jesus carried out His ministry through a combination of prayer and work, with prayer always coming first.

This story occurred at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He had been in the desert for forty days, praying and being tempted by Satan. When He returned, He started His ministry by proclaiming, “Repent and believe in the Gospel,” and called His first disciples, Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Shortly after that, He went to the home of Simon, where He healed his mother-in-law. Then they brought Him all who were ill or possessed by demons, and He healed the sick and drove out many demons. But what did He do after all this work? He went to a deserted place where He prayed. After prayer, He went to work again, going into their synagogues, preaching, and driving out more demons.

This should be our model in all aspects of life, but most especially in our service to God. Through prayer, we prepare our hearts to serve Him, then we serve as called according to God’s will. Then rinse and repeat. Pray and serve, pray and serve.

Without prayer, any service we do for God will quickly become about ourselves and the tasks at hand, instead of being about God and His people. There is no way around it. We are weak, and without constant communication with God through prayer, we are not capable of serving Him as He calls us to. Our focus must remain on Jesus in everything we do, and that’s what consistent prayer, from the heart, does, because it keeps us rooted in the Lord.

Here am I, Lord; I come to do Your will.

Let’s do it His way.

Amen.