Where true greatness can be found

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

CHRIST gave us the clear answer to this question. “Whoever will be the greater among you, let him be your minister. Ad he that will be first among you, shall be your servant. Even as the Son of Man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many.” (Mt 20,26-28)

In short, our true greatness is when we truly become like Christ, or “another Christ” as we should be. It is when we assume his spirit of wanting to serve and not to be served, even to the extent of offering his life for the redemption of men. It is when we humble ourselves so we would have the attitude of wanting to serve everybody else, no matter how undeserving we think they may be.

We need to discover the intimate and mutual relation between humility and greatness. When we are truly humble, it can only show the greatness of our heart. And when we happen to be great in stature and dignity, we should know that we are there to serve more than anything else. True greatness is never shown in pride and vanity. It is proven and verified in humility.

Mary perfectly mirrors the humility and greatness of Christ himself who, as St. Paul said, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil 2,6-8)

This mutual relation between humility and greatness is expressed when we manage to value others, whoever and however they are, above ourselves and when we look after their interest instead of our own. (cfr. Phil 2,3-4)

This is what we clearly see in the life of Christ. Let’s call to mind that stunning example of his when he shocked his apostles when he insisted to wash their feet at the Last Supper.

For us to have this humility and greatness in our life, we need to be always with Christ and Mary. We need to be in constant conversation with Christ and Mary, referring everything to them, asking them for the answers to our questions, clarifications to the many issues we have to grapple with in life, strength for our weaknesses and temptations, contrition and conversion after our falls, etc.

We should do everything to keep this state of humility alive in us all the time. We know very well how easy it is for us to take this virtue for granted. We have to realize more vividly how vulnerable we are to the ways of pride, arrogance, self-centeredness, desire for power and domination, etc. Humility keeps us guarded against these dangers.

And when we happen to receive praises and honors from others because of our good works, let’s keep our feet firmly stuck to the ground, not allowing ourselves to be intoxicated. We should not allow these praises and honors to go to our head and cast some evil spell over us.

Instead, we have to thank God profusely. All praises and honors belong to him. What we should realize also is that those praises and honors given to us are actually a sign that we have to give ourselves more to God and to others. Our sense of duty and responsibility should become sharper.

Those praises and honors that we receive are actually some kind of a test to see if we would still remain with God or we would now choose ourselves as our own god.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com