Friends, welcome to Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. Word on Fire is an

apostolate dedicated to the mission of evangelization using media both old and

new to share the faith on every continent and to facilitate an encounter with

Christ and His Church. The efforts of Word on Fire engage the culture and bring

the transformative power of God's Word where it is most needed. Today we invite

you to join Bishop Robert Barron as he preaches the gospel and shares the

warmth and light of Christ with each one of us.

Peace be with you. Friends, everybody loves the charming story that is our first

reading for this week. The story of the call of young Samuel. You know the story

well. The child who hears the voice of the Lord but doesn't fully understand.

The master Eli who patiently coaches him in the way of the Lord. This awakening of

prophecy in Israel after a long period of dormancy. It's a beautiful charming

story. I remember when I was going through the seminary it was often told in

connection with spiritual direction and discernment of vocation and so on. But

you know what? Once we know the backstory of this little tale, things get a little

more complicated, a little less romantic. And this story I think you'll agree

with me becomes surprisingly relevant to our times. What's the backstory? Well Eli

was the chief priest at the temple at Shiloh. Mind you this was before the

Jerusalem temple was built under Solomon who was David's son. So we're an

earlier version of the temple in Shiloh. Eli is supervising the work of his two

sons Finneus and Hoffney. Now Eli was, according to the Bible, a relatively

devout man but he was lazy and unfocused. And he was an especially bad

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