1 Samuel 9:18

Saul approached Samuel at the city gate, etc. The Lord came to John at the boundary of fulfilling the law and initiating grace. For the law and the prophets were until John; from then on the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it (Matt. XI). And he asks him in what humility and in what perfection of other virtues his conscience is placed, who has deserved to see so much divine contemplation before other mortals then. For the house of each individual is the conscience, in which thoughts always dwell. But he does not question him with words, but by bestowing his gifts upon him. And he, responding, reveals where his house is; for in all the virtues he practiced, he showed himself to be placed in the abode of humility; saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John III). And other such things, to which Samuel's subsequent responses aptly correspond.

And because those who are great in merits are small through humility, there follows: Saul approached Samuel in the middle of the gate, saying: "Tell me, I pray, where is the house of the Seer." If a preacher is in the city when he speaks plain and common things that are understood, what is the gate of this city if not humility? For the knowledge of the divine word is hidden from the proud and revealed to the humble. Hence also in the Gospel he speaks to the Father, saying: "I confess to you, Father, King of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to little ones" (Matt. 11:25). By the wise he meant the proud and those who think highly of themselves, but by the little ones he meant the humble. Of these another Scripture certainly makes mention, saying: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (1 Pet. 5:5). For he resists the proud, lest they understand eternal goods, but he gives grace to the little ones, so that they may know those same eternal goods through his own revealing. The elect, therefore, because they come to spiritual understanding through humility, go to hear the preachers as if through a gate. The chosen preacher also, because he speaks spiritual things humbly, Samuel meets Saul at that same gate. For it is as though both are at the gate when the things that the chosen preacher speaks are humbly heard by another who is chosen. But he who had newly arrived had found the one he was seeking, and did not know it. Therefore Saul himself says to Samuel: "Tell me, I pray, where is the house of the Seer." For this is characteristic of great men, that they are recognized with difficulty by the least. In the flesh indeed they are despised, but in mind they are exalted. They desire to appear contemptible outwardly, but they do not cease to do venerable things. Because, therefore, those who greatly desire to advance through their examples admire them not only in outward matters, but in their inmost qualities. They see in them outwardly what can be despised by carnal people, but they equally observe that inwardly, spiritual men ought to be venerated with great admiration. When they hear that these men are exalted by fame, they desire to know them in the loftiness of their way of life. According to the historical sense, therefore, Saul was seeing Samuel and did not recognize him, so…