Valuable Lessons from the Book of 1 Samuel, Part 3

In this 3^rd and final part of the series, we enter and remain in God’s desolation, for His deepest longing is to be our Father, protecting, guiding, and lavishing us with His love and grace, yet mankind continues to seek its own ways that are not the ways of God.

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Valuable Lessons from the Book of 1Samuel, Part 3

2/5/26

The darkening of Saul’s heart

The deterioration in Saul didn't happen at once; it came about slowly, subtly over time. When Saul was first chosen by God to be the first earthly king, he was humble. When Samuel approached him, Saul answered:

Am I not a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my family the humblest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way? (9:21)

Scripture tells us that God gave Saul “another heart” (10:9). He received God's anointing, meaning that God's blessing and power were with him. This act marked him as God's chosen to lead His people. The anointing was not just a ceremonial act; it represented God's selection and the Holy Spirit's empowerment of Saul for his leadership role.

Then Saul's humanity began to experience power as he defeated the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines, and smote the Amal′ekites (14:47-48). His humility decreased as his ego increased. He began, probably even subconsciously, as it happens to us, to take for himself God's glory. His pride slowly increased, his arrogance increased, his greed increased, and his heart grew darkened, for this is what sin accomplishes in every human being. This slow deterioration led to his disobedience to God's voice spoken to him through Samuel. Samuel approaches Saul with the utter grief of the heart of God, saying, “What have you done?” (13:11). He goes on to speak the truth to Saul of the consequences of his disobedience:

You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you; for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel for ever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. (13:13-14)

God’s plan of salvation continues forward regardless of Saul’s unfaithfulness because God is Love. This is an important lesson for us in Love Crucified. The mission of our community belongs to God. It reveals His plan of salvation; therefore, the mission will continue with us or without us.

My little seed of Love Crucified has continued this mission according to God's perfect plan, but My mission of the Cross began in the Heart of Our Father before the foundation of the Earth and will continue until My final coming as Judge. 6/24/25

Many have abandoned Me, and many more will continue to desert Me. The words of Scripture are being fulfilled, “and when I return will I find any faith left?” (Lk 18:8) Yes, I will, My little one, I will find My faithful remnant. They will be very few, but they will radiate the light of God, for they have been purified in My precious Blood and endured the time of the great persecution. Then, this remnant will be united with all my martyrs of pure love to cast into hell Satan with all his dominions as one with My Mother, and a new era of God's divine love will flourish on earth. 10/15/21

As MOC and MC, we have made a covenant with our Lord, Love crucified. We have given our fiat to receive God’s Simple Path to Union with God, live it, become it, and proclaim it with our lives. God has anointed us for His mission, not ours. Yet, as frail human beings, and due to the Fall, we, like Saul, can subtly go astray. We can lose our first love, the love and zeal we had when we first made our covenants, as God tells the church in Ephesus in the Book of Revelation, I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first (2:3-4). Not all covenant members of this community throughout these 18 years of our foundation have remained faithful, yet the mission moves on. I pray that we will be among the few who persevere as God's faithful remnant to the end to fulfill His glorious mission!

The ways of God are not the ways of the world

We also learn that God does not choose His prophets or leaders according to the ways of the world. The Lord told Saul that He “sought out a man after his own heart.” When God tells Samuel to go to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king, Samuel thought that Jesse’s oldest son would surely be the chosen one.  Yet, God tells Samuel:

Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. (16:7)

Our Blessed Mother, on the Feast of the Mother of God in 2012, began forming us to see into the hearts of others as God sees. She said:

Learn to gaze into the eyes of God's sons and daughters (our brothers and sisters) and see into their hearts. Do not be deceived by the exterior, but see the wounds and pain in the hearts of your brothers and sisters.

This will help our gaze become one of love, not judgment. Our perception of a person is easily distorted when we see only the exterior, but we are moved to compassion when we see into the heart. 1/1/12

We can only begin to learn to look into the hearts of others if we have learned to look continuously into our own hearts. We can not see or perceive the wounds in others if we have not come to see and know our own wounds. We can not have compassion on others, whose actions and disorders hurt us, seeing beyond our hurt, without having touched the pain of the Heart of Christ and chosen to REMAIN in His pain, gazing at Him, for it is ONLY Christ’s perfect sacrifice of love, His real pain of the Heart, that can transform us into God’s compassion, able to forgive and love our enemies, and those who have hurt us deeply.

The Lord then taught us to look beyond the appearance of the Host to see and encounter the living God before us. He said, Look at Me, gaze into My hidden presence in the simple, ordinary Host before your eyes, what do you see?(7/22/25) Our formation and purification from God through His Simple Path has taken us to see into the depths of our own hearts to discover our misery and all our falsehood, who we have become that we are not, and it has also taken us deep into the Sacred Heart of Jesus alive in the Eucharist to see Him, know Him, and hear His continuous groans of love. This gradual formation as God’s saints of these end times has taken us from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness to becoming one with the Living Host.

God loves to choose the “little ones,” the anawim

God chose David, the youngest and weakest of all his brothers. In fact, when Samuel came to Jesse’s home to anoint one of his sons, all the brothers were present except David, for David was thought, even by his father and brothers, to be too little and insignificant to be present. This, too, has been a very important lesson in the way the Lord has formed us as His hidden, little victim souls. He chose us because of our insignificance, littleness, nothingness, His anawim. When David approached King Saul, wanting to be the one to fight Goliath, Saul replied to David:

You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth. 17:33

Humanly, it was mission impossible, but God loves to choose His little ones for His greatest battles so that He can confound the mighty ones of the world and reveal His power, greatness, and love for His people, calling their hearts back to Him.

This is why the Lord refers to me always as His “little one” and to our community, each of you, as His “little mustard seed.” As MOC and MC, understanding who the anawim are is essential to us, as it is our identity. I am God’s anawim, His little one.  You each are God's anawim, His little ones. If we lose this as our identity, we lose who we truly are, and God's mission in us vanishes or becomes greatly distorted and weakened. Therefore, let us review the Biblical understanding of the anawim.

Anawim is a Hebrew word for “the poor” or “those who are bowed down.” It refers to the "poor of Yahweh"—the humble, marginalized individuals in the Old Testament who relied solely on God. It encompasses both material poverty and a spiritual posture of total dependence on God, representing the "faithful remnant" who trust in Him amidst hardship. Its spiritual meaning refers to those who are “poor in spirit” or “meek” who, regardless of their material wealth, recognize their dependence on God rather than human power. Mary is considered the perfect anawim.

In fact, on August 6^th, 2017, Jesus spoke to us using the word anawim to describe who we are:

…Respond with courage and zeal, believing that God has chosen you to participate in the triumph of My crucified love to save the world. Believe that as My warriors – the hidden anawim of God – you have mounted your horses and have begun to fight the great battle for the salvation of the world…

St. Paul refers to the anawim as God’s chosen ones in his letter to the Corinthians:

For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Cor 1:26-29)

On November 12^th, 2011, the Lord spoke these words to us concerning David and Goliath:

Believe that the sword of this mission will conquer the dragon (The Holy Spirit then brought to my mind, David and Goliath)

How could it be that the little one who could not wear the armor of the mighty warriors defeats the giant? The ways of God are never the ways of the world. He was wearing the armor of God, and he possessed the power of God. He trusted in God with the innocence of a child. God defeated the enemy through His humble vessel so that all glory is given to God, not man. The enemy will be conquered, and all things will be made new, but never in the ways of the world. God has chosen to give the sword of righteousness to His little mustard seed. The sword of the mission is the power of God that will pierce and conquer the dragon.

You must remain little, insignificant, and innocent, drinking the pure milk of the words I bring to you (1 Peter 2). Believe, My little ones, believe that the God of heaven and earth has chosen you for the decisive battle… Live with the innocence of a child, the mission given to you. Be little, pure and humble, be nothing, and it is I, Who will do the impossible. Trust with the innocence of a child...you are nothing, but I am God, and I will use My little ones to confound the mighty ones of the world. Believe in the power of My Cross and the power of My precious Blood, for it is only through the Triumph of My Cross that all darkness will be conquered. Live, love, and suffer as ONE with Me, and you will become the sword that will pierce this darkness.

We, God’s little mustard seed, like David, have been chosen by God to fight as His hidden victim souls, one with the Sacrifice of Christ, united as one to our Blessed Mother in the cloister of her Immaculate Heart, the decisive battle of these times. God is forming His little ones, His warriors of these times, through The Simple Path to Union with God. It is God’s formation manual for His saints of these end times! When we each begin the Simple Path, we are NOT little, innocent, pure, and childlike; the unveiling begins of all the masks and falsehoods we have clothed ourselves with. We become pure, humble, and innocent as we allow the Bridegroom to unveil us from all our self-love until we are naked before our God-Spouse and before ourselves, thus becoming authentically who we are.

The following year, the Lord again compared us to David and explained the weapons we will use by becoming them to win this great battle. He said:

My little one, the time draws near. You hold the sword of the Spirit in the mission given to you. My family of LC are My warriors of love that will defeat the dragon in the decisive battle that draws near. Be ready to approach this evil in the same way David approached Goliath. You will conquer the dragon in your littleness and purity because it is God who is with you. You must not fear, and believe with the innocence and zeal of David. My daughter, form My family well in the teachings I give you. You each must approach the battle with five stones also. First, the stone of humility, possessing the perfect knowledge of your nothingness and My power and majesty. Second, the stone of purity, purity of mind, heart, intention, word, desire... Third, simplicity, detached from all, most especially your ego. Fourth, trust, perfectly abandoned to My Will—fifth, courage, courage rooted in love of Me to be perfectly obedient to My commands.

These stones are your weapons for battle, for the dragon will not be defeated according to the standards of the world but in the Light of Love. Therefore, My family, prepare for battle. Be attentive to Me. Go in peace. 1/18/12

David gave all honor and glory to God in his humility, innocence, and childlike trust during his youth. His response of great courage and wisdom came from God's anointing, not from himself, for of himself he was weak, little, and nothing, but through God's grace, he was strong, wise, and courageous, full of zeal for the House of the Lord. As we continue reading the second book of Samuel, we learn of David's dreadful sin of lust, adultery, and murder (2 Samuel 11). Again, we are confronted with the feebleness of our humanity. How wealth and power can easily corrupt our hearts and minds. No wonder Jesus teaches us that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Mk 10:25). The Simple Path the Lord has been guiding us through takes us through many levels of purification, until we become empty of self. It is only through the crucifixion of death to self that we resurrect as one with Christ as new men and women of His Kingdom on earth. And it is only in this way, a continuous dying, that we can remain little, humble, innocent, childlike, nothing so that God, as our One and All, can fulfill His glorious plan of salvation through us, with us, and in us. My community, may we persevere, walking together in love and helping one another on this glorious Path.

Let us leave the cenacle tonight to ponder this week, before the presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, these questions:

-       Is my identity as God's anawim, His little one, anchored, solid, in me?

-       Have I grown in the desire to decrease? Do I rejoice when others increase, when others are chosen, and I am not, when others are praised, and I am not?

-       Have I become attentive to my heart to my desires to be important, sought after, desired, applauded, powerful, successful, affluent…?

-       Do I sincerely process these desires with Christ in prayer, and work to have them crucified by doing what is most difficult (message 1/6/14)?