First Wednesday in Ordinary Time
14 January 2026
Speak Lord
The first reading opens with a striking line:
“The word of the Lord was rare in those days.”
That tells us something about the spiritual climate of Israel.
God was not absent,
but He was not being heard.
The priest Eli was growing old.
The sanctuary had become routine.
People were going through the motions,
but they were no longer attentive to the voice of God.
Into that quiet,
God speaks
—not to a king,
not to a priest,
but to a child.
Samuel is sleeping near the Ark of the Covenant,
close to the presence of God,
when he hears his name called.
At first, he does not recognize the voice.
He assumes it must be Eli.
Three times he runs to the priest.
Three times Eli sends him back.
Finally, Eli realizes what is happening:
God is calling.
So Samuel is taught how to listen:
“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
That line is not magic.
It is posture.
It is the willingness to be addressed by God.
And when Samuel finally speaks it,
Scripture tells us something remarkable:
“The Lord came and revealed Himself.”
That is what listening does.
It makes room for God to show Himself.
The Gospel shows us what happens when God’s voice is not just heard, but embodied.
Jesus leaves the synagogue
and enters Simon Peter’s house.
His mother-in-law is sick,
so He takes her by the hand,
and she is healed.
That simple scene sets off a chain of events.
Soon, the whole town is at the door.
The sick are brought.
The possessed are freed.
Word spreads.
This is not accidental.
Mark is showing us what happens when God steps into a place that had grown quiet.
Where Samuel learns to listen,
Jesus brings the voice of God into the middle of human life.
And yet, the Gospel adds something unexpected.
After a night of healing and preaching,
Jesus goes off to a deserted place to pray.
When the disciples find Him,
they tell Him everyone is looking for Him.
But Jesus does not go back to the crowd.
Instead, He says,
“Let us go on to the nearby villages, that I may preach there
also. For this purpose have I come.”
This tells us something crucial about the mission of Christ.
Jesus does not exist to be consumed or used.
His ultimate purpose, however,
was not so much the healing of the body,
as much as it was the healing of the soul.
He exists to be sent.
The healings, the crowds, the attention
—all of it flows from something deeper:
His communion with the Father.
The same voice that once spoke to Samuel
now speaks through Jesus.
And Jesus guards that voice through prayer.
That connection matters for us.
Like Samuel, we live in a world full of noise.
It is easy to mistake other voices for God’s voice
—expectations, fears, distractions.
It takes time and guidance to learn how to listen.
Samuel needed Eli.
We need Scripture, the Church, and silence.
Like Peter’s household,
we also bring our needs to Jesus.
And He does not ignore them.
He heals.
He restores.
He lifts us up.
Jesus does not let us stay in one place.
Faith is not meant to settle into comfort.
It is meant to move outward.
That is why Jesus leaves the crowds.
The Kingdom cannot be contained in one town, one group, or one moment.
God’s word must keep going.
So too with us.
When we begin to listen,
when we learn to say,
“Speak, Lord”
our lives start to change.
We are healed, strengthened, and then sent.
In this time after Christmas and before Lent
is not quiet because nothing is happening.
It is quiet because this is where listening becomes real.