“Speak, Lord, for Your Servant Is Listening.”

At the heart of today’s readings is a simple but life-changing posture before God: listening. The young Samuel teaches us the prayer that shapes every true vocation and every authentic Christian life: “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” The first reading tells us that “a revelation of the LORD was uncommon” in those days. Yet God was not absent. He was speaking, but it took a listening heart to recognize His voice. Samuel hears the call, but at first, he mistakes it for something familiar. Only when he is taught to listen differently does he encounter the living God. This reminds us that God often speaks quietly, persistently, and patiently, waiting for us to slow down, to be still, and to say with sincerity, “Here I am.” The responsorial psalm echoes Samuel’s response: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” Notice that listening is never passive. To hear God is to be ready to obey Him. True listening opens the ear of the heart and moves the hands and feet toward loving service. This connection becomes clear in the Gospel. Jesus listens deeply to the Father. After a day filled with healing, preaching, and the cries of the people, He rises early and goes off to a deserted place to pray. Before He acts, He listens. Before He speaks to the crowds, He listens to the Father. From that place of prayer, clarity is born: “For this purpose have I come.” Listening grounds Jesus in His mission. Then we see the fruit of that listening. Simon’s mother-in-law, once healed, immediately begins to serve. Listening to God leads to healing; healing leads to service; service becomes witness. Samuel listened, and God’s word through him was never without effect. Jesus listened, and the power of God flowed through Him to heal the broken. Today, God still calls, perhaps not with an audible voice, but through Scripture, prayer, the needs of others, and the quiet movements of our conscience. In a noisy world, the challenge is not that God is silent, but that we are distracted. As we approach the Eucharist, let us ask for the grace of Samuel’s heart and Christ’s attentiveness. May we learn again how to listen, and may our lives become a living response: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”