In the Entrance Antiphon of today's liturgy, the Lord God says to us: "I will look after my sheep,..., and I will appoint a shepherd to pasture them." In the first reading, 1 Sam 9:1-4, 17-19; 10: 1a, God does just that for the Israelite people. The Lord had asked Samuel to anoint a king for the Israelites, as they had requested. That king was to be Saul hand-picked by the Lord. We meet Saul at the beginning of the first reading. Saul's father Kish had asked his son Saul to take a servant and go out to hunt for some asses that had wandered off. So he does so "though the hill country of Ephraim, and through the land of Shalishah. Not finding them there, they continued through the land of Shaalim without success. They also went through the land of Benjamin, but they failed to find the animals!" Samuel catches sight of Saul, however, and when he does God says to him: "This is the man of whom I told you; he is to govern my people." Truly, God was behind Kish's request that Saul go on a hunt for the asses. And God was the one directing Samuel in his search for the person God had called to govern the Israelites.
Same in our day. We might think God is a distant God. No way! He is closely involved in our day, week, month, year as it unfolds, making sure that His plans are accomplished and the the person--you and I--whom He wants to carry out a specific mission are prepared for that role! God is always looking "after [his] sheep....and [appointing] a shepherd to pasture them." What we set out to do on any given day is being used by God to bring about His Kingdom or to prepare us to bed His faithful servant, though we may be totally oblivious of what God is doing. I am sure Saul had no idea how his search for the asses would conclude. God is a God of surprises! What He is about in any circumstance--perhaps the most bizarre of circumstances--can and will be used by God to accomplish His will that His Kingdom of peace and justice be realized, as with the Israelites on their way to the Promised Land!
Are you aware that you are an instrument that God will and is using to bring about the Kingdom of God here "on earth as in heaven"?G
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