“I’m Actually Happy Serving Him!”~Alice von Hildebrand / New Maglet! ~ Timeless Values, Available Now!

“I’m Actually Happy Serving Him!” 

by Alice von Hildebrand, By Love Refined

Dear Julie,

One of the great errors of our time is the idea that service is demeaning. What a catastrophic mistake! Service doesn’t jeopardize the absolute metaphysical equality of human beings: male and female are often called to play different instruments in the great symphony of life. 

All persons, male or female, have the same human nature and equal dignity. All are made in God’s image and likeness; all have a mind, a free will, and a heart capable of loving. All have an immortal soul and are meant to enjoy God forever in eternity.

Unfortunately, the equal dignity of persons is often misinterpreted as identity, i.e., people think it means that “all persons are equal in all things.” But equality of dignity is obviously not the same as equality of talents or physical capacity.

Just imagine women competing with men in wrestling or in the ring! Men run faster, swim faster, and are physically stronger. (This is why Chesterton claimed that, “There is nothing so certain to lead to inequality as identity.”)

Nor does equality of dignity mean that it would be demeaning for one person to serve another. On the contrary, as Plato said, “A man should pride himself more on serving well than on commanding well.”

Christianity goes even farther by claiming that the essence of greatness lies in service: “He who would be great must be the servant of all.” It claims that Christ our King came not to be served but to serve.

Meditation on this fact will help you fight the temptation to see housework as degrading service, and Michael as a taskmaster who profits from your subservience. (Remember, too, that Michael serves you through his work outside the home as well as by sharing in the household chores.) 

These thoughts might help you both to view your work at home and in the office as noble service instead of as an endless round of small, meaningless tasks. 

To be forced to serve would be demeaning (though he who forces others to serve, demeans himself far more than he does his servants). But to choose freely to serve others is a sign of love and the triumph of freedom over petty pride. 

Think of the mother who cares so lovingly for her child, night and day. Is she a slave, degraded by her service? Or is she, heedless of her own comfort, a model of sublime love made joyful by her difficult service? Like the mother who cares selflessly for her child, the person who loves finds joy in serving his beloved. 

I long to hear from you as each of you, according to your particular callings, walk the sweet path of loving service, 

Lily

“We must be very careful not to contribute to the great cluttering up. We must make a heroic effort to rid our lives of all but one motive, that ‘impractical’ spirituality of the saints, a life in union with God. If this is the undercurrent of our existence, we can expect the spiritual training of our children to bear fruit. Without it, what they learn of God as children will be easily shoved aside when the world begins to make its noise in their ears…” -Mary Reed Newland, How to Raise Good Catholic Children

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