“Do you want to be great? Start from the bottom,” said St. Augustine, noting that great towers have foundations of humility. “As the building is being constructed, it rises higher and higher, but the one who is digging the foundations is pushed down lower and lower. So, the building has to be humbled before it reaches its loftiest height, and its topmost pinnacle can only be erected after it has been humbled to its depths” (Sermon 69).
This insight goes to the heart of Christian leadership. Christ came to build the loftiest tower — to lead sinful humanity to the perfection and happiness that can only be experienced in God. As St. Paul asserted, Christ had to be humbled to the depths, taking the form of a slave and “becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). In doing so, Christ becomes the leader at whose name every knee must bend (2:10).
The path of humility is difficult for us who, as Christ’s followers, are called to lead others to him. Yet this is the only way to accomplish our mission. And it is through the service and suffering brought on by humbly leading others to Christ that we will experience our greatest joy.
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JOSEPH MCINERNEY is vice president of leadership and ethics education for the Knights of Columbus.








