The prayer of Hannah is quite unique. Usually, when we pray for something from God, we simply pray for the grace we want. Or if we do consider what to give the Lord, we usually do not consider returning the very gift we are asking for. Yet that is precisely what Hannah does. “if you give your handmaid a male child, I will give him to the LORD for as long as he lives;” (1 Samuel 1:11) And in that very generosity, she receives the wondrous gift she seeks.
So too, when we think of the obedient, others listening to them may not be the first characteristic which comes to mind. And yet Christ, whose very nourishment is the doing of the Father’s will (John 4:34) and who no one surpasses in obedience, is the very one to whom others listen so attentively and whom even the unclean spirits must obey (Mark 1:27).
As we begin Ordinary Time, let us ask for these graces of generosity towards the Lord and obedience to God’s Will. Surely this is the path to that blessed amazement which Hannah and the followers of Jesus received.