From: 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28
Birth of Samuel (conclusion)
Consecration of Samuel
[24] And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a
three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine; and she brought him to
the house of the LORD at Shiloh; and the child was young. [25] Then they slew
the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. [26] And she said, “Oh, my lord! As
you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, pra-
ying to the LORD. [27] For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me my
petition which I made to him. [28] Therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long
as he lives, he is lent to the LORD.”
And they worshipped the LORD there.
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Commentary:
1:1-7:17. The books of Samuel begin with an account of the birth of the man from
whom they take their name, that is, Samuel, who will become a judge of Israel
and a prophet. The beginning is like the book of Exodus, which also begins with
a birth — that of Moses. In fact, many of Moses’ features apply to Samuel: just
as Moses inaugurated a new and very important stage in the history of the peo-
ple, so Samuel marks the start of the monarchical period, which will forever leave
its imprint on the religious profile of Israel.
The story of Samuel comprises only the first part of 1 Samuel, the first seven
chapters, which also contain the history of the ark. The narrative includes three
distinct accounts arranged in such a way that the first and last have the same
protagonist — the birth, calling and activity of Samuel as a prophet (chaps. 1-3),
the history of the ark (chaps. 4-6), and then Samuel’s activity as a judge (chap.
7). Although these narratives may have been independent originally, in the final
biblical text they form a perfect unity in doctrinal terms, from the point of view of
the setting of events (the shrine at Shiloh), and in the identity of their protago-
nists, Samuel and the priests, the sons of Eli. The shrine at Shiloh, which was
located between Bethel and Shechem and which was a main centre of worship
in the era of the judges (Judg 21:19-21), acquires special importance at this
point: Shiloh will be where the monarchical power begins, and its splendour will
transfer to the temple of Jerusalem when the ark moves there.
The sons of Eli were the last priests of Shiloh. Whereas Samuel was perfectly
faithful to the will of God, the Sons of Eli had gradually corrupted the practices
of their priestly function; with their death, the temple at Shiloh ceases to have
any importance.
The doctrinal thread moving through the three episodes is God’s active interven-
tion in all these important events in the life of the people: to him is due the prodi-
gy of Samuel’s birth (1:1-20) — Samuel, the man chosen to open the way to the
monarchy; it is God who exposes the sin of the sons of Eli (chap. 2) and initiates
the charming dialogue in which Samuel receives his calling (chap. 3). In the epi-
sode of the ark, it is the Lord who punishes his people by taking away the ark,
the sign of his presence (chap. 4); it is he who visits countless misfortunes on
the Philistines who have taken possession of the ark (chap. 5) and it is he who
forces them to return it to Israel, which receives it with delight (chap. 6). Finally,
the Lord makes Samuel a judge over his people (chap. 5), able to exercise his
function at all the shrines of Israel — in Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah (7:15).
From the very start, the book of Samuel is a sort of religious interpretation of his-
tory, in the sense that it puts more emphasis on the meaning of the events it nar-
rates than on their chronological order or their geographical situation. Samuel is
a figure of Christ who will initiate the final stage of salvation through his complete
obedience to the will of God (cf. Phil 2:8).
1:1-28. Samuel’s birth is described with all the elements denoting a miraculous
event, emphasizing divine intervention and the child’s importance. With no hope
of a human solution, a childless woman, humiliated by her husband’s (other) fer-
tile wife, seeks a way out of her anguish by asking God, her only hope, to give
her a son. Her husband loves her, but he cannot understand her (v. 8); Eli, the
priest and head of the shrine at Shiloh, comes to bless her but even he cannot
understand her (vv. 15-17). God is the only one who listens to her, and he ac-
cepts the vow she has made to him (v. 11). Hannah follows in the line of Sarah,
Rachel and the mother of Samson — other women in whom the action of God
could be seen very clearly when he took away the stigma of their barrenness.
But, above all, she is the prototype of the devout woman who perseveres in pra-
yer, convinced that it will be heard. “Why is it necessary to list here all those
who, by praying as they ought to do, won from God the greatest gifts? For it
would be easy for anyone to take an abundant sample of cases based in holy
Scripture. Hannah gave birth to Samuel, who was to be compared with Moses
himself (cf. Jer 15:1), because although she was sterile, she had faith and
prayed to the Lord (1 Sam 1:9ff). [...]
How many favours each of us could tell of if we recalled with gratitude the gifts
we have received in order to praise God for them! Once they have been watered
by the grace of the Holy Spirit through constant prayer, souls that have gone for
a long time without bearing fruit, sterile in the most noble part of their being and
with the signs of death on their souls, think wholesome thoughts and are filled
with the knowledge of the truth” (Origen, “De Oratione”, 13, 2-3). Hannah, who
will bear Samuel in her womb, is a figure of Mary and also “a symbol of the
Church which carries the Lord. Her prayer is not clamorous, rather it is calm
and refined; she prays in the depths of her heart because she knows that God
listens to her there” (St Cyprian, “De Oratione Dominica”, 5).
Samuel comes into the world as a gift from God; he is the one who was “asked
for of the Lord” (cf. v. 20), according to a popular etymology of his name. His
mission on earth will be as exceptional as his birth; Hannah presents him at the
shrine: “as long as he lives he is lent to the Lord” (v. 28). Samuel is brought up
by the priest at the shrine of Shiloh (cf. Judg 18:31; 21:19), that is, within the
ancient institutions of the time of the judges; thus, the new institutions he will
establish do not imply any break with or rejection of what went before.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Colossians 3:12-21
Progress in the Spiritual Life
Morals in Family Life
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Commentary:
12-13. Putting on the new nature is not just an external action, like putting on
different clothes. It is a transfiguration involving the whole person — soul and body,
mind and will. This interior change begins to operate when one makes a firm re-
solution to lead a fully Christian life; but it calls for an on-going effort, day in day
out, to practice all the virtues. “Conversion is something momentary; sanctifica-
tion is the work of a lifetime. The divine seed of charity, which God has sown in
our souls, wants to grow, to express itself in action, to yield results which con-
tinually coincide with what God wants. Therefore, we must be ready to begin
again, to find again — in new situations — the light and the stimulus of our first
conversion” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 58).
The virtues which the Apostle lists here as characteristic of the new man are all
expressions, in one way or another, of charity, which “binds everything together
in total harmony” (v. 14). Meekness, patience, forgiveness and gratefulness all
reflect an essential virtue — humility. Only a humble person can be forgiving and
truly appreciative, because only he realizes that everything he has comes from
God. This realization leads him to be understanding towards his neighbor, forgi-
ving him as often as needs be; by acting in this way he is proving the genuine-
ness of his faith and love.
See the note on Eph 4:20-24.
14. The comparison of the new nature to a new outfit is extended here by a furt-
her metaphor: charity is the belt which keeps everything together. Without it the
other virtues would fall apart: supernatural virtue could not survive (cf. 1 Cor 13:1-
3). St Francis de Sales uses simple examples to explain this truth: “Without ce-
ment and mortar, which knits the bricks together and strengthens the walls, the
entire building is bound to collapse; a human body would simply disintegrate un-
less it had nerves, muscles and tendons; and if charity were absent, virtues sim-
ply could not stay together” (St Francis de Sales, “Treatise on the Love of God”,
11, 9).
“Love, as the bond of perfection and fullness of the law (cf. Col 3:14; Rom 13:10),
governs, imbues, and perfects all the means of sanctification” (Vatican II, “Lumen
Gentium”, 42). Therefore, “if we want to achieve holiness — in spite of personal
shortcomings and miseries which will last as long as we live — we must make an
effort, with God’s grace, to practice charity, which is the fullness of the law and
the bond of perfection. Charity is not something abstract, it entails a real, com-
plete, self-giving to the service of God and all men — to the service of that God
who speaks to us in the silence of prayer and in the hubbub of the world and of
those people whose existence is interwoven with our own. By living charity —
Love — we live all the human and supernatural virtues required of a Christian” (St.
J. Escriva, “Conversations”, 62).
15. The “peace of Christ” is that which flows from the new order of grace which
he has established; grace gives man direct access to God and therefore to that
peace he so much yearns for. “Thou has made us for thyself and our hearts are
restless till they rest in thee” (St Augustine, “Confessions”, 1, 1). This is not a
peace the world can give (cf. Jn 14:27), because it is not a function of purely ma-
terial progress or well-being, nor does it derive from the sort of peace that should
obtain among nations. “Peace on earth, which men of every era have most eage-
rly yearned for, can be firmly established only if the order laid down by God is
dutifully observed” (Bl. John XXIII, “Pacem In Terris”, 1).
The peace of Christ, then, is “a peace that comes from knowing that our Father
God loves us, and that we are made one with Christ. It results from being under
the protection of the Virgin, our Lady, and assisted by St Joseph. This is the
great light that illuminates our lives. In the midst of difficulties and of our personal
failings, it encourages us to keep up our effort” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing
By”, 22).
16. “The word of Christ”: the whole corpus of our Lord’s teachings, of which the
Apostles are accredited witnesses. This should be ever-present to the Christian’s
soul and “dwell...richly” in him, imbuing everything he does: the word of Christ is
the best nourishment of one’s life of prayer and an inexhaustible source of practi-
cal teaching; and it is to be found in the first instance in the books of the New
Testament. St John Chrysostom says that these writings “are teachers which
never cease to instruct us [...]. Open these books. What a treasury of good re-
medies they contain! [...]. All you need do is look at the book, read it and re-
member well the wise teachings therein. The source of all our evils is our igno-
rance of the sacred books” (”Hom. on Col, ad loc.”).
St Paul also reminds us that our appreciation should lead us to glorify the Lord
with songs of joy and gratitude. We can use ready-made hymns for this purpose,
and also the Psalms, which the Church has always used in its liturgy to praise
God and to nourish the spiritual life. “Just as the mouth savors good food, so
does the heart savor the Psalms” (St Bernard, “Sermons on the Song of Songs”,
7, 5).
See the note on Eph 5:19.
17. All genuinely human things can and should be sanctified (cf. 1 Cor 10:31),
by being done perfectly and for love of God.
The Second Vatican Council has recalled this teaching: “Lay people [...], while
meeting their human obligations in the ordinary conditions of life, should not se-
parate their union with Christ from their ordinary life; through the very performance
of their tasks, which are God’s will for them, they actually promote the growth of
their union with him. This is the path along which lay people must advance, fer-
vently, joyfully” (”Apostolicam Actuositatem”, 4).
This teaching was very much part of the message and life of the founder of Opus
Dei: “I assure you, my children, that when a Christian carries out with love the
most insignificant everyday action, that action overflows with the transcendence
of God. That is why I have told you repeatedly, and hammered away once and
again on the idea, that the Christian vocation consists in making heroic verse
out of the prose of each day. Heaven and earth seem to merge, my children, on
the horizon. But where they really meet is in your hearts, when you sanctify your
everyday lives” (”Conversations”, 116).
The Second Vatican Council also sees in this passage of Colossians a basis for
ecumenical dialogue with non-Catholics: “And if in moral matters there are many
Christians who do not always understand the Gospel in the same way as Catho-
lics, and do not admit the same solutions for the more difficult problems of mo-
dern society, they nevertheless want to cling to Christ’s word as the source of
Christian virtue and to obey the command of the Apostle: [Col 3:17 follows]”
(”Unitatis Redintegratio”, 23).
18-19. In the period when this epistle was written, especially in the East, women
were regarded as inferior to men. St Paul does not make a direct attack on the
customs of his time, but the way he focuses the question of the role of women
provides the elements of an answer to it. He identifies what a woman’s role in the
family should be: it is true that the husband has an important part to play, but the
wife also has a role to perform and one which is non-transferable. The wife is not
the husband’s slave: she is his equal in dignity and must be treated by him with
respect and sincere love. It is taken for granted that the family needs a center
of authority, and that this authority belongs to the husband, in accordance with
God’s design (cf. 1 Cor 11:3, 12-14). “The place and task of the father in and for
the family is of unique and irreplaceable importance [...]. In revealing and in re-
living on earth the very fatherhood of God (cf. Eph 3:15), a man is called upon to
ensure the harmonious and united development of all the members of the family”
(Bl. John Paul II, “Familiaris Consortio”, 25).
God gave Eve to Adam as his inseparable companion and complement (cf. Gen
2:18); she was therefore duty-bound to live in peace with him. Man and woman
have different, though complementary, roles in family life; they are equal in digni-
ty, by virtue of the fact that they are human persons: “The unity of marriage, dis-
tinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal dignity which
must be accorded to man and woman in mutual and unreserved affection” (Vati-
can II, “Gaudium Et Spes”, 49).
Therefore, a husband should make a special effort to love and respect his wife:
“You are not her master”, writes Saint Ambrose, “but her husband; she was not
given to you to be your slave, but your wife [...]. Reciprocate her attentiveness
to you and be grateful to her for her love” (”Exameron”, 5, 7, 19 quoted in “Fami-
liaris Consortio”, 25).
See the note on Eph 5:22-24 and 5:25-33.
20-21. Children should obey their parents in everything, as God has commanded
(cf. Ex 20:12; Sir 3:8ff) — a commandment which shows that this is something
which is part of human nature. Obviously for a child’s obedience to “please the
Lord” it must not involve doing anything that is opposed to God’s will, for Jesus
taught that “he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me”
(Mt 10:37).
For their part, parents must do everything they can to bring up their children well.
In every family there should be an “educational exchange between parents and
children (cf. Eph 6:1-4; Col 3:20f) in which each gives and receives. By means of
love, respect and obedience towards their parents, children offer their specific and
irreplaceable contribution to the construction of an authentically human and Chris-
tian family (cf. “Gaudium Et Spes”, 48). They will be aided in this if parents exer-
cise their unrenounceable authority as a true and proper ‘ministry’, that is, as a
service to the human and Christian well-being of their children, and in particular
as a service aimed at helping them acquire a truly responsible freedom” (”Fami-
liaris Consortio”, 21).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.