“Every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted; go and take the lowest place so that the host can move you up higher.”  There’s some real natural wisdom, common sense here.  Nobody likes a pompous man who’s always trying to convince you of how important he is.  Of course, he’s usually trying to convince himself more than anyone.  Having a humble attitude of service in all times and places, work, family, among friends: this is what gives peace to the heart: letting go of the need to be the most important, or the smartest, or the most charming or funny person in the room.  Just sit at the back: it’s always better to be invited up than to be sent down.  And this is true in every part of our life.  Whoever would be greatest must be the greatest of servants.  Whoever would be first must be first in humility. The Lord repeats this idea again and again, and shows it to us in countless ways: his whole life was a service and a sacrifice for others, both the little everyday details of his life, and his life as a whole: every single thing, and all things taken together, were sacrifice.  His doctrine is a constant appeal to forget about self and live for others.  We want to imitate him.  We take him at his word that this is what will actually make us happy in this life and prepare us for the life to come.  Not being pompous bureaucrats at work and toward our family and toward our friends, but being true servants.  

As followers of Christ’s example, we should be ready to give cheerful service to God and to others without expecting anything in return. And that’s a real key for us.  The Lord reminds us, “Don’t pat yourself on the back too much if you’re only good to people who are good to you in return; if you’re kind to people who can do things for you.”  Now we should be kind to everyone, of course.  But in the case of those who can, and probably will repay our kindness, we have to be careful about our motivations; they might not be pure. But if we’re good and kind to people who can’t or won’t return the favor; if we’re good and kind anonymously; if we’re good and kind even to those who seem to be our enemies: that’s when we know we’ve started to accept the message our Lord wants to give us.  And it helps.  It’s a habit that we can form over time.  If we form this virtue (and a virtue is just a good habit); if we form the good virtuous habit of doing good to those who can’t repay us, then we’ll get used to that mindset; it will become more and more natural, the more the habit sets in.  And then, when we do good to those who maybe canrepay us, that won’t be why we’re doing it. We will have purified our hearts of our selfish motives.  But we have to work on that.  This is a lifelong task.  There will always be some give and take as our selfish tendencies rear their ugly heads from time to time.  So we keep praying for humility and selflessness in our service to God and others. We try to form good habits of selfless giving, without counting the cost, without counting the gain.  And our model is Our Savior, the meek and humble of heart, whose sacrifice speaks more eloquently than all else.