Today’s readings talk a lot about seeing. Who can see and who cant? Who is blind and who merely thinks they can see? The most important line about seeing actually comes in our first reading from book of Samuel:
“Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” 1 Samuel 16
Using this divine seeing ability, God sees the heart of an insignificant shepherd boy named David. He chooses him to be king of Israel despite what appear to be better candidates in his brothers. The ritual sign indicating that David has been chosen as king occurs when the prophet Samuel pours oil all over his head and anoints him as king. David is king because God saw him, chose him, and anointed him.
You also have been chosen and anointed king. At your baptism, like with David, the Holy Spirit rushed upon you. As a sign of this, your head was anointed with the oil of Sacred Chrism. From this moment you were given the three-fold mission of Jesus to be priest, prophet, and king.
When Samuel first saw David, God said to him “This is the one.” When you look around your house now, you may wonder “Who will lead spiritually without the parish priest? Who will speak the word of God to a world in chaos? Who can govern his household well in these times?” You might think yourself an unlikely choice. But, like David, you have been anointed. God sees you and says, “You are the one.”