“The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Pride and vanity are vices with which I continually struggle. I often find myself obsessing over how I appear to others, whether or not people think I’m smart, holy, a good person. I can get so caught up in my own self-serving world that I become inattentive to the needs and desires of others.
This Lent, I pray that I may grow closer to Our Lord by His example of humility. That by humbling myself and serving others, I can be more like Him, and in this way be exalted. As Fr. Cajetan Mary de Bergamo says in Humility of Heart, “Nothing could be more sublime than the words of St. John’s Gospel, ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ And no abasement can be deeper than that which follows: ‘And the Word was made Flesh.’ By this union of the Creator with the creature, the Highest was united with the lowest.”
That others may be loved more than I—Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
— Anonymous