Gregory the Great — on 1Sam 8:22 (Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 2)

“Whence also he who is declared to have spoken in the ears of the Lord is reported to have received His answers as well. For there follows: (Verse 22.) And the Lord said to Samuel: Listen to the voice of the people, and establish a king over them. 13. In this matter it should be noted that Samuel spoke the words of the people, by which they had asked for a king, in the ears of the Lord; and the Lord declares Himself rejected in the fact that the people ask for a king. Therefore, when He responds to the one praying and commands the one praying to make a king, what else does He indicate except that the devout prayer of a chosen man is never fruitless? For if he did not obtain the correction of the people, he obtained the good of his own instruction, since he recognized the people as rejected for their evil request, and yet nonetheless knew what he himself ought to do for those who were cast off. The prophet, therefore, was able to be heard and not heard: because through praying he learned what he ought to be, but from the people demanding reprobate things, he did not remove the hardness of heart. But this he was able to obtain—he who spoke in the ears of the Lord—because holy men, by the very fact that they devoutly beseech the Lord on behalf of sinners, are fortified by the help of divine favor, so that they are in no way polluted by the crimes of those whose filth they cannot wash away by their prayers. But what does it mean that the Lord says, "Listen to their voices," when it was said above, "Samuel heard all the words of the people"? He had heard the words of the people so as to know what was being said, not so as to grant what was being asked. Therefore, when the Lord says to him, "Listen to the voice of the people, and set a king over them," He commanded the prophet to comply with the will of the people. And behold, as is plainly seen, the prophet praying is not heard, while the people rejecting God and asking for a king are heard. What shall we say this means, except that by the wondrous and fearful judgment of divine incomprehensibility, holy men praying on behalf of the reprobate cannot be heard, while in the fulfillment of their own depravities, the reprobate sinners themselves can be heard—so that for the latter, unbridled iniquity may increase the merit of eternal punishment, and for the former, the reward of perpetual recompense may grow from the affection of compassion? And immediately, beginning to show the order by which the appointment of that same king was reached, he says: (Verse 22.) And Samuel said to all the sons of Israel: Let each one go to his own city. 14. When we wish to examine spiritual matters, it is necessary that we remove carnal things from our attention: because the inner mind does not penetrate what the dust of outward actions blinds. Therefore, when the prophet of the Lord commands all the people to depart to their own places, he drives from himself the tumult of carnal concerns: so that he may see more clearly the spiritual matters that must be arranged, insofar as the intention of earthly actions does not obscure the keenness of his mind. But indicating what sort of person is foreseen by divine judgment, he says:”