SPEAK, LORD…

SPEAK, LORD…
Homily for Wed of the 1st week in OT,
10 Jan 2024, Mk 1:29-39.

Speak Lord, your servant is listening. This is what the old priest Eli instructed the young boy Samuel to say, the next time he heard the voice. The storyteller tells us “At that time Samuel was not yet familiar with the Lord…” He needed someone to mentor him in understanding the ways of God—in short, a mentor in prayer.
Towards the end of the story, we’re told that “Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.” I’d understand that to mean Samuel had discovered the power of God’s Word, and that his job as a prophet was not just to proclaim God’s Word, but more importantly, to let it take effect.
In the Gospel, we hear how the Word of the Lord took effect in the many people Jesus encountered—in Peter’s mother-in-law, the sick and the possessed it brought about healing and liberation. Mark tells us Jesus not only expelled demons; he “prevented them from speaking.” They could not even get to first base at attempting to fool him. You, see, the demons are good at mimicking God’s voice or pretending to represent God. Sometime they would use people, such as the disciples who come and tell him excitedly that “everyone was looking for him”. They were massaging his ego, telling him to stay because he was in demand, or had become popular. But he did not give in to popular clamor. He simply said it was time to “move to other villages,” adding, “it was for this purpose that I have come.” The devil could not distract him from his purpose.
What was his secret? His discipline of prayer was part of his daily routine. Mark says, “Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.” Why was prayer essential to his mission? Because it kept him attuned to God’s voice, to God’s will, to God’s ways.
You see, i have often told you before that our most common understanding of prayer is “talking to God”. In fact we have the