Litany of Humility...... I would advocate that a spiritual life of any depth is unattainable without first setting your course down the wonderful challenging road of developing the virtue of humility. Jesus himself stresses in the Gospel of Matthew, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” An ordered recognition of who you are, who your brothers and sisters are, and who God is the first step to growing in faith.
But learning the virtue of humility, and going through a process of peeling back our dirty pride is not an easy or comfortable task. The road to humility is long - about the length human life for most of us. But we do have a tool called the Litany of Humility to point us in the right direction.
The Litany of Humility is a wonderful, challenging prayer. The authorship of the Litany of Humility is often credited to Cardinal Merry del Val, who was the Secretary of State for Pope Pius X in the early 19th century. The Cardinal was known to pray the Litany of Humility every day after Mass. Christians have used litanies (which just series of “asks”) for the life of the Church. The Litany of Humility has only grown in popularity and renown in the recent years.
But the real reason this is such a challenging prayer, is that it's not simply meant to be a personal reflection on your pride. We are asking out Lord to make us radically humble. We are asking, that in the eyes of the world, that we might be unnoticed, be set aside, to be decreased, to be humiliated, to be rebuked, to be suspected, to be wronged, to be forgotten. And when we ask, God acts!
I hope you have the courage…I hope we all have the courage to pray this.
O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
Blessings,
Deacon Mike