Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
None of the saints became saints because they had a perfectly holy environment or because they had other saints to make them saints and nothing but saints in their lives. It wasn't like that for the saints. God didn't just make it perfect for them, and that's why they became saints. Quite the contrary. The saints became saints because in that mess in which they lived, they were able to see God's presence and God's action—God's action even in the imperfect people that were part of their life and even in the sinners that were a part of their life. That's why they became saints. They saw God's presence, recognized it, saw God's will, saw God's action, and let God act on them, transform them.
So it was with Samuel. In fact, because Samuel—the little Samuel—Shiloh, the sanctuary in which he was living, was not the holiest of places. It was holy because it was the place where God wanted to dwell among the Israelites. But it was unholy because the priests were unholy. The sons of Eli were causing scandal among the Israelites: abusing their power as priests, liturgical abuses, promiscuity with the women who served in that temple. It was a scandalous place. Eli, their father, who was supposed to rebuke them, was rather passive and allowed the abuses to go on. That's why he was later reproached by God for his passivity. God told him, “You love your sons more than Me. You let them fatten themselves off My sacrifice to scandalize the people.” So they actually wound up being punished very severely, condemned for their sins and punished very severely.
And yet, that's where God spoke to Samuel—at Shiloh, while all this is going on. That's where God speaks to Samuel. That's where God calls Samuel. And Eli is the one who teaches Samuel how to discern God's voice, how to listen to God's voice.
So does this mean, sin is okay. No. Again, God condemned, God punished. But the saints become saints because they realize that God is present and active even in these messes. And we might be surrounded by a mess, and God can speak and be present and sanctify in it. And we learn, again, like Samuel, to listen to God's voice: “Okay, God, You are allowing this to happen. Lord, speak. Your servant is listening. What am I supposed to do in this situation that You're permitting? How is this person in my life—maybe not at first glance very helpful—how is he speaking to me Your will? What do You want me to do? And how are You showing it to me through this person?”  And maybe we're frustrated with ourselves. Conversely, sometimes we're that imperfect person; we're that sinner for somebody else. And we can be frustrated with ourselves because we don't become holy as quickly as we want to be. We're not as holy for others as we wish to be. The consoling thought is that God can act through us. God can speak through us. God can influence others through us. Despite our weakness, imperfection, sinfulness, God can do all that. Why? Because again, God does that. God is all-powerful, and we're not. And the saints, again, become saints not because everything around them—everything around them—is perfect. No, they become saints because, though everything around them is very imperfect and very messy, they see that God can act through that mess. God can sanctify them even through that messiness.
All right, hopefully a useful thought for today.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.