Last autumn I reached an important milestone in my life: I turned 50. I supposed to have a midlife crisis but none of the typical tell-tale signs indicates that. The craziest purchase I’ve made since then was a small bottle of sake – Japanese spirit – for a whopping sum of £17. Since I got it, I’ve only had a wee sip; at that sort of pace, I’ll celebrate my 60th birthday with that bottle… Well, that’s a midlife crisis Fr Tad-style. Despite lacking a midlife crisis, I do occasionally look back; today’s readings provide such an occasion. Half a century is a long enough time in human life to make some meaningful observations and to see certain traits and patterns. Who I am today is a result of all those fifty years. Like everyone else, I’ve been shaped and formed by the environment I’ve lived in. In modern times such an environment is much more dynamic than it used to be, but in each age one of the most crucial, indispensable parts of that environment has been people. I’m not talking about those who made headlines and were figureheads; I’m talking about those we have lived amongst and those we have come across. Some of them have had identifiable impacts on our lives but most of them have had an imperceptible yet genuine one. As today’s first and gospel readings show, this has always been the case.
Let’s have a closer look at both, starting with the story of the young boy Samuel and Eli. Who were they? Eli was a high priest at Shiloh, the Israeli spiritual centre of the time. Several years earlier he spotted a seemingly drunken woman in front of the temple and rebuked her. It turned out that she wasn’t drunk but tormented by her infertility and prayed for a child, promising that if her prayer was granted, she would dedicate her son to the service of God. Eli blessed her with peace and a guarantee that God would grant her request. Subsequently, she conceived a child and a few years later she fulfilled her promise, bringing the boy to Eli to be trained in the service of God. As we heard in the reading, the boy slept in the tabernacle; in our circumstances, this is equal to the boy sleeping inside the church. Despite such closeness, the boy ‘Samuel, had as yet no knowledge of the Lord.’ Physical proximity doesn’t guarantee a spiritual one… Another interesting angle is Eli’s domestic situation. He had two adult sons who caused him a lot of worries; they behaved appallingly and disgracefully. They ignored Eli’s pleas and reprimands. His situation perhaps is a small consolation for some parents among you – you’re not uniquely anguished about your adult offspring… So, we have two worlds, one of the young boy who doesn’t know God despite being brought up in a religious house and the righteous high priest whose own children have drifted away. The experience and wisdom of the good man Eli helped Samuel to find God and eventually to become one of the greatest figures in the history of Israel. But there was not a happy ending for his own two sons nor Eli himself. Life doesn’t always offer a Hollywood ending…
The story in the Gospel reading is quite similar, with a longer chain of events. Firstly, John the Baptist pointed at Jesus as someone special: ‘Look, there is the lamb of God.’ John’s two disciples followed Jesus and positively responded to his invitation to spend time with him. Then one of them, Andrew, told his brother Simon about it and brought him to Jesus. Simon became a follower of his and eventually fulfilled Jesus’ pronouncement of becoming the rock on which the Church would be built. What I find fascinating about this chain of events is that no supernatural, spectacular ‘fireworks’ accompanied the whole thing. Everyone came to faith in Jesus by someone else’s testimony. Now we can see the common theme of the two readings – coming to a living faith in God by simple, ordinary, unimpressive means that can be easily missed by outsiders.
That was certainly the story of my own life. Over half a century I’ve come across many people who – unwittingly – made positive impacts on my life, my attitudes, my way of thinking and acting. I said ‘unwittingly’ because none of those people who had an identifiable impact on my life made calculated efforts to do so. They simply lived out what they believed (in a religious and non-religious sense). They were authentic in their lives, or to use a better word, they were integral. Their values and beliefs, their word and actions didn’t show gaping disparities. By all means, they were not perfect; they knew that, and they were open about it. They never attempted to give a good example; they always tried to do as they said and believed. That’s why they were so convincing.
Here we can learn three lessons. The first one is that the best way of helping others to find God and open their lives for Him is by living our lives authentically. If your values and beliefs are visible through your actions and attitudes others will notice; if you try to play them, trying to ‘give a good example’ others will sense this and reject it. The second lesson is that you might never be aware of any positive impact you’ve had on someone else’s life; most times you will not. The third lesson is that your integral way of life might not and will not impact everyone around you. Life doesn’t always offer a happy ending, but it shouldn’t stop you and me from trying to do our best.
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