My thoughts, with the First Reading, centered on Hannah and her self-knowledge, direct expression of who she was and her trust and dependence on God. She states, “I am an unhappy woman”, feeling that she will live a more complete life if given a child that she can raise to be a future leader in her faith community. Hannah clearly sees her life as an extension of God’s plan for her and is not afraid to speak directly to Eli, the priest, when she tells him, “ Do not think your handmaid a ne’er-do-well.” Hannah knows herself and knows that she can trust God with her deep sorrow and misery and asks God for the fullness of life. She tells Eli, “Think kindly of your maidservant”, and being true to herself, her calling, and her trust in God, Hannah goes on to live a life fulfilled by serving God and her faith community through the birth and the nurturing of her son Samuel.
The Gospel and the Psalm continue to remind us to trust in the authority and the teachings of Jesus. In the Temple Jesus speaks with authority, not based on law but rather based on the new ideals that come from God. God’s new message tells us to “swallow up my enemies”—which may be our own “unclean spirits”- spirits such as anger, bitterness, resentfulness, or fear and then to rejoice in our victory over these unclean spirits. Jesus, the Son of God, tells us to not see our blessings as “Better than others” but rather opportunities to use these God- given blessings, as Hannah did, to make the world a better place for others. Jesus, the Son of God, invites us to listen to His teachings, to go to Him with our uncertainties and even our unclean spirits. To trust in His relationship with us and to become joyful, hopeful, and confident people, knowing, “That with God all things are possible.”