Eli said to Samuel, —Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply,
Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.—
When Samuel went to sleep in his place,
the LORD came and revealed his presence,
calling out as before, —Samuel, Samuel!—
Samuel answered, —Speak, for your servant is listening.—

Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him,
not permitting any word of his to be without effect.

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

Does God need man?

It certainly appears that way. Throughout the Old a New Testaments God called men and women into His service. Finally, at that moment in time determined by God, the Father sent His only Son into the world to speak to us as a man. To speak to us in a way we can clearly understand.

God called the men and women of biblical times, not because He had to, for God can do all things. God does not need to address us in ways we can fathom with our senses. But he called them nevertheless. He called them so that His action within our lives is consistent with the revealed truth.

What is revealed truth?

Revealed truth is that truth that can be seen and understood. It is universally acknowledged truth. It takes the form of what our senses can perceive, what our minds can know, and what our hearts and souls know is right.

The revealed truth is written into each and every one of us from the time of our conception. We call this the Natural Law. The natural law is the rule of conduct which is written into us by God, our Creator. It is how we can know God, how we can know right from wrong, how even heretics, pagans, and those not evangelized, can know God. It is part of the very depth of each human person’s nature written by the hand of God.

The fullness of revealed truth lies in Christ Jesus and His word as taught and interpreted by His Church. God is the truth revealed to us by His grace.

My family in Christ,

St. Paul writes of the humanness of God’s saving work. He tells us once again that our humanity has been paid for by the Son on the cross.

Do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
For you have been purchased at a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body.

God calls you today. The sacrament of God’s Word, proclaimed to you today, the sacrament of the Word, taught to you today, calls you.

Check your hearts. Examine whether the knowledge of God is within you. Stop, be quiet, and listen.

…

Your very nature is calling out, I believe! I have faith in God! You are here for a reason. Even if that reason is masked by other reasons, you cannot deny that the call to faith in God and His truth is within you.

God is calling you today. Like He called Samuel, He calls you.

Brothers and Sisters,

He calls you because God desires to communicate with you. He calls you by what He wrote upon your heart from the moment you were conceived. He calls you in ways you can see, feel, and hear.

Consider the great sacrament of the altar, the most holy body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. What we see with our eyes and taste with our tongues supplies us with something our senses cannot perceive —“ but that is known in our hearts; that which is known by God’s call and our faith. The sacrament is Jesus Himself. We physically take Him into ourselves.

St. Thomas Aquinas writing about the Holy Eucharist said: Praestet fides supplementum, Sensuum defectui. Faith supplies that which our senses fail to perceive.

In today’s Gospel St. John proclaims:

—Behold, the Lamb of God.—
The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.

When Father Andrew stands here and says: —This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,— will you stand up to receive Him?

I tell you, do not just receive Him, but like St. Andrew get to work, with joy in your heart, and let everyone know. Let God use you.

Like Andrew cry out:

—We have found the Messiah— – which is translated Christ

…and bring all people to Jesus.