1Sam 2:20

“11. Because in the person of Eli the priest the good teachers of the ancient people are also signified, he is known to have blessed Elkanah and his wife, since indeed the order of those same ancient teachers foresaw the spiritual union of Christ and the holy Church, and preached with devotion that the future offspring of those elect ones would be worthy of heaven. Although this was done long before, nevertheless it then became known that he had thus blessed them, when, with the grace of our redemption now revealed, each faithful person was able to believe that our ancient fathers proclaimed so many good things about this renewal. And so that the order in which this happened may be recognized, it is added: (Verse 20.) And they went to their own place. 12. For her to go away to her own place with her husband is for the holy Church to flee at times from the troubles of the active life and to devote herself through contemplation to the joys of the heavenly life. For that mother had left her child for a time, she who said: "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ" (Phil. 1:23). Was she with the child when the force of love had carried that distinguished teacher up to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2–4)? Was she then with the child when, received into paradise, she heard words that it is not permitted for man to speak, and was caught up to her own place, because he showed this, saying: "We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come" (Heb. 13:14)? But maternal affection compelled her, who was going away to her own place with her husband, to return to her son. For she spoke and said: "To remain in the flesh is necessary for me on your account" (Phil. 1:24). There follows: (Verse 21.) Therefore the Lord visited Anna, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.”

“And because God multiplies for the preacher the gains of converts through the discerning zeal of pastoral care, Anna is said to have been visited by the Lord, and through the grace of the divine gift to have merited the grace of fruitfulness in sons and daughters. She bears sons when she gains through the word those through whom she bestows the seeds of preaching to others. She bears daughters when she calls back to the service of almighty God those minds which, although they are not suited for preaching, nevertheless diligently nurture the seed of the word of God received from preachers, which, as if giving birth, the daughters afterwards bring forth through good works as an example to their neighbors.”

“And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, etc. The priests of the Jews, having converted to faith, blessed Christ and the Church, of whom it is written: "A great number of the priests were obedient to the faith." The old priesthood often signifies in its types the Church to be blessed in Christ, and to be multiplied by the seed of the word among the nations of the Gentiles, and it speaks metaphorically to Christ: "May God the Father grant you believers from the Gentiles"; for they are the seed whom the Lord has blessed. For the return you lent to the Lord, that is, for that uniquely holy man, whom you chose to have taken from a virgin, sharing with you the person of Christ, that is, the name of God. For if a holy loan had not been received by the Lord, no one would have thought it hopeful to expect a seed from a barren woman. This means, if a man seized by God had not been glorified and seated at the right hand of the Father, the miserable gentility, and aware of its transgression, could not have reached the multiplication of the seed of Abraham at all. But while Christ, the firstfruits of the human race, was loaned to God the Father, hope is given to the faithful by His example to be saved through Him, to live in Him, to die for Him, to be resurrected by Him, and to reign eternally with Him. It can also be said that the Church, for the loan it lent to the Lord, earned seed from Him, when, by offering to the Lord a faithful and devoted people, it received greater gifts of faith and devotion, through preachers sent throughout the world; which in whatever nations, neglecting to obey the word of God when heard, failed to receive the multiplication of the holy seed for the unpaid loan of the word to the Lord by rejecting the teachers from itself.”