So, to be humble...

To be humble is to be like Him. To be humble is to be like Her. To be humble, in all then, is to be like God Himself.
When we were first closed off from Heaven, I have read, there was a conversation between the Father and the Son concerning how to save us from eternal darkness. The Father said that we must be allowed back in, but there must be a way to do that which would show how deeply we had offended Him and yet, how deeply we were loved by Him. The Son said that He would come down in our stead and lower Himself to be human, to serve, to suffer, to die.
Jesus, our Brother, came to save us from our lack of humility. To be proud is to follow the Devil. This was the sin that cast Satan and his cohorts into Hell. The opposite of pride is humility. Jesus has said that all virtue comes from being humble.
Not the kind of humility that results in a false sense of self-abasement, only to exalt oneself in one's own heart. The real humility of which He speaks comes from deep inside. The Pharisees had a false humility ~ look at me, how I fast, how I pray, how I donate!
And He hated that...
No ~ what He speaks of is the kind of humility that springs from a real sense of self, comparing one's own worth before God. We are only human, and yet, so is the Son of God! Not taking anything away from His divine nature, but the very fact that He became a Man for our sake, that tells us so much about the love that is His for His creatures ~ us. He was humble, in His service to others, in His willingness to hide His divinity before the eyes of men, in His submission to His Father in all things...even to the point of obedience to a mere Woman and a Foster Father, as perfect as they were, even being only human ~ and yet, chosen by His Father for the Son.
If men had only known then what they know now, eh? Suppose those same Pharisees had had their eyes opened to His true nature(s)...how they would be eating their very words! How they would be falling over one another to get to His side!
And with all their supposed learning, they were blind. They had such pride, they could not see the forest for the trees, so to speak.
It was the poorest of the poor, the broken, the sick and the worst sinners who, in the end, heard His message, followed Him and died in love with Him. And those same great sinners are all Saints now...reveling in the eternal glory and light of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit!
And the first reason they are there at this very moment, and will be for all time, is because they knew the value of humility.
In their humble hearts, they heard and kept His word ~ serve the poor, teach the ignorant, forgive the offender, show example to all ~ this is His Way, His Truth.
His own Mother, our very beloved Mary, Mother of the eternal Good, was and is Herself, the most humble of all...it is Her very humility that has prompted Her Son to request Her place of honor in the Double Great Novena! And She would be the last one to request this honor ~ but He, in love with Her very low opinion of Her own self ~ has raised Her above the very choirs of Angels!
I don't mean here to say that Her placing Herself after everyone is in any way to take away from Her greatness ~ on the contrary, She is the very epitome of every virtue, every grace, every treasure! It's just that She knows that without Him, She would be nothing, and yet, with Him, She is everything.
And the Angels love Her for it...
Which brings me to another facet of this most perfect of virtues, humility...and the fact that the opposite was what sent the demons to the denizens of damnation forever...their pride, their unwillingness to serve mankind, and all the rest of it ~ how they probably would wish to take it all back, IF THEY WERE NOT SO PROUD!
When we are judged, we are going to have to give an account of our virtues and vices, our graces and talents that were given to us by God. How did we serve others? Did we follow the precepts of the Church? Did we practice our virtues, using every chance for graces? Did we waste our time in things that went against the things of God?
And we would be wise indeed if we were to cultivate this most marvelous of virtues ~ humility ~ and do all that we can now, while we still have the time, to increase it in our very hearts before God and our fellow men.