NOTES for Sa1 3:1-21

Samuel did not immediately understand that the Lord was speaking to him. He needed the advice of Eli, an old and experienced priest, before Samuel could begin a dialogue with the Creator.

The Lord can still speak to us today. Yet without spiritual experience we may fail to recognize Him. Moreover, if we do not know how to discern spirits, we risk mistaking our own hallucinations—or even other voices—for His voice. Fellowship with spiritually experienced people, together with the Church's centuries-old experience, then enables us not to lose our way amid the complexities of the spiritual world.

Yes, Eli failed to raise his sons to be worthy men, and so the Lord deprived his lineage of the priesthood. Samuel, an outsider, inherited Eli's ministry. But even this negates neither Eli's personal virtues nor, still less, the exalted character of his priestly ministry.