Greetings to you all on the feast day of Saints Cosmas and Damian! How wonderful to celebrate these two brothers who humbly followed Christ, serving the people of God in their chosen profession.  So selflessly did they serve as physicians that often they did not even accept payment; they became known as “The Silverless” because of this practice.

I wonder at the humility it takes to not accept compensation for the work one does, whether that comes in the form of money, or praise, or recognition, or gratitude... What if I could give of myself—to my husband, to my children, to my students, to my friends, to my fellow parishioners, to complete strangers—and never ask, “What’s in it for me?”  What if we all could do that?

In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul gives us an example to follow, and he sets the bar high: 

        “Do nothing out of selfishness or vainglory; rather, humbly regard

        others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for 

        his own interests, but everyone for those of others.  Have among

        yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus…”

                                Philippians 2:3-5

 

The same attitude as Jesus!  He was God, and yet he did not insist on being treated as God!  He humbly became one of us, but his humility did not stop there. He accepted death—the most humiliating kind of death possible: crucifixion!  

 

Well, I am clearly not God, and most likely I will not ever face crucifixion, but I can begin to imitate my Lord in the way that a child imitates his father: trying on his shoes, imitating his deep voice, pretending to work like “Daddy”. Jesus’ shoes are pretty tough to fill, but that should not stop me from trying them on, walking humbly beside or even behind my brothers and sisters, regarding them as more important than myself. I do not even speak the same languages that Jesus did when he walked the earth, but still I should speak with his voice of love and forgiveness. And the “work” that I do, whether or not I am paid for it, should be done in imitation of my “Daddy,” my “Abba”, giving generously to all, bestowing my “blessings” on those who “deserve” them and those who don’t, those who will thank me and those who will not.  Our Father in heaven loves it when we imitate Him.

 

May we all continue to grow in the virtue of humility, in imitation of the Saints and of our Lord Jesus Christ.                                           

Saints Cosmas and Damian,…pray for us.