Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Throughout my life, I have witnessed many wonderful people achieve high levels of success. Whether it be professionally, academically, or quietly giving of themselves offering their time, talent, and treasure for their family or organizations dedicated to helping others.  It is only natural to often take pride in these accomplishments. In today’s gospel Jesus shares a parable on the need for humility and the downside of seeking attention.

While reflecting on today’s gospel, I realized, to remain humble, we have to answer two important questions.  The first, are all who helped being recognized and appreciated?  This was exemplified by Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon.  Neil was renowned for his ability to remain humble despite his celebrity and accomplishment.  A common response of his when he was asked about that first step on the moon would be “I was certainly aware that this was the culmination of the work of 300,000 to 400,000 people over a decade”.  The second is am I doing this to walk with and live out the mission of Jesus to serve God or is it to serve myself in any way? Only when the answer to these two questions is, yes can I feel that humility and pride are rightfully balanced in my life.

As we work to live out God’s mission for us let us always remember to heed the words of Jesus, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”