The Bible Society has assumed the mission of placing the Bible in the hands of any who would read. Behind this impressive Bible distribution project is the belief that if people would read the Bible, they would hear the word of God as it applies to their lives. There is a case in one African city where people wanted copies of the New Testament not because they wanted to read them but because the Bible paper was great for wrapping and smoking tobacco and other stuff. When the missionaries discovered this they reached an agreement with the youths that they could continue to use the pages of the Bible for their smoking on the condition that they would read each page before they smoke it. Within a few weeks many of these youths were beginning to ask questions about the pages they had read. Some of them eventually turned to the Lord, got baptised and gave up smoking. God works in strange ways. Nevertheless, when we ask the question whether people, alone without any spiritual guidance, are generally able to recognize the word of God when they hear it, we find that the answer is no. The readings today show the need for spiritual guidance to help people discern the word of God that they hear or read. The first example is Samuel in the 1st reading. Samuel grew up literally in the presence of God. As soon as he was weaned his mother Hannah took him to Eli, priest of the sanctuary in Shiloh. There he was raised by the priest himself. He assisted daily at the altar, he was familiar with the sacred writings, and he got the best religious formation available. Yet when the word of God came to him personally he could not recognize it. Each time God called he thought that it was Eli. It was not until Eli directed him on what to do that he finally succeeded in establishing a connection with God who was trying to reach him. Why didn’t God just come to Samuel and say: “Samuel! Samuel! It is I the Lord, your God. Now listen up?” Why did God have to speak to Samuel in a voice that could be mistaken for Eli’s? God normally works through the ordinary channels that He has established. That is why we need the church and we need priests. These are the normal channels of God=s word and God=s grace in our lives (Hebrews 5:1). God can, of course, always go beyond these channels, but that is not for us to presume or take for granted. Something similar also happens in the gospel. Andrew and John=s other disciple had followed John as a way of preparing for the One who is to come. For years they had prayed and fasted and waited for the joy of meeting the Messiah. Yet when they finally came face to face with the Messiah himself, they could not recognize him. Again it took the guidance of their spiritual master, John for them to recognize the Messiah. These disciples of John had a divine call to become disciples of Jesus. But they could not discover what divine Providence had in store for them until a spiritual director pointed it to them. There will always be the need for priests like Eli and prophets like John to point out Christ to us and to help us discern what God is saying to us in our lives as individuals and as a people. The practice of spiritual direction where people go to priests to help them discern what God is saying to them regarding the direction their lives should take has declined greatly in our time. Today we expect professional counsellors who may or may not share our faith and vision as Christians to fulfil this role. But only a consecrated leader who is in sync with the spirit of God can help to discern the presence of God and the import of God=s word in our lives. Christianity is not a do-it-yourself religion. Our model today is the Ethiopian finance minister who was reading the Bible and the deacon Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” What did he answer? “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:30-31).