While we may love watching Downton Abbey, the reality of the life of the staff would have been for most of us unbearable. Your life was to serve and to be invisible. If you wished to marry you would have to leave the life of "service." You heard everything, but your opinions counted for nothing.
The gospel today taken from the 23rd chapter of Matthew focuses on the virtue of humility and reminds us that
The greatest among you must be your servant.
The word servant is diakonos, from which we get deacon. For the Downton Abbey fans the deacon is not a butler who has some position, it is the footman who stands silently in the background who speaks only when spoken to, who serves without ever being noticed, unless he makes a mistake.
Silent, humble service. And the gospel tells us that if we wish to be great in the kingdom of God this is what we should strive for.
