Father Damien

Jesus famously said, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”[1] He also said, “So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”[2]

I have written about humility before, most recently about 2 ½ years ago. Humility and pride were the subject of Chapter 3 of my second book, Beyond Shallow Faith, which was entitled “The Biggest Obstacle to Real Happiness.” (You can read a short excerpt from that chapter here.)

But what exactly is “humility”? My pastor, Pastor Daniel, said that humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking about yourself less. By this he meant that humility means thinking of others instead of merely yourself.

In that earlier blog entry from 2 ½ years ago, I cited Bernadette of Lourdes as a good example of humility. And she was. Francis of Assisi was another. I talk about both in my fifth book, Christ’s Faithful Servants.

But perhaps no one exemplified humility better than Father Damien. He spent his life, and lost his life, selflessly serving the lepers on the island of Molokai in Hawaii—people everyone else shunned. One of the chapters in Christ’s Faithful Servants is about Father Damien, and you can read the entire chapter here. I hope you enjoy it.

[1]. Matthew 23:12; see also Luke 14:11

[2]. Matthew 18:4