The litany of Humility

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I have a big problem with pride and I thought I should pray the ‘Litany of Humility’… but it’s a scary prayer!!!
Could anyone honestly say they would want these things? I know it’s to pray for the grace to bear being humiliated and lowly… but is it just me (my pride is showing through) or does anyone else fear to pray this???
But I’m GOING to pray it anyway…

Here it is…

by Merry Cardinal del Val, secretary of state to Pope Saint Pius X
from the prayer book for Jesuits, 1963

**O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, O 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 go 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. **
 
I think the prayer shows a good understanding of our human pride and fear of humiliation. That’s why the first part asks for deliverance from the desires and fears and the second part asks for the grace to desire the things mentioned. If it asked for all those difficult things to actually happen, nobody would pray it! But to be delivered from fear of humiliation is a very freeing thing.

Betsy
 
The key is in the last line: grant me the grace to desire it.

Jesus did not “desire” the cross but he prayed: thy will be done.

Same dif.

I know somebody who prays: Lord grant me all of your precious gifts – especially the ones nobody else wants. 😉
 
Thank you for posting that. It is a wonderful prayer.

In the prayer, there is no desire to evade serving. The writer wants to give up competing with those we should be serving. It is a desire to serve whereever one is needed and in whatever way is needed, without concern about getting credit. It is a desire to be put forward only when others desire it from us and to automatically withdraw to make place for another as soon as one is no longer needed at the fore. What a freedom that would be!

Those are wonderful things to want. To no longer desire those things is deliverance from wanting to be the center of the universe. As long as I want to be made much of, as long as I want to be at the center of everything, I am never going to have the joy and peace of knowing that God is there, that only God belongs there, and that no arrangement of the universe could be any better or more wonderful than that.

Otherwise, too, other people will always have the unenviable job of trying to gently withdraw me when I am not needed in a place I have been noticed among the servants of God. To withdraw without being asked…that is a service to others, too, for isn’t it a joy to insist someone to come up higher, and a chore to have to send them lower? It would be a great gift for the whole community to be able to go where one is sent and to never give anyone the job of humiliating us when we should have been quick to humble ourselves.
 
This looks like a helpful prayer for someone who suffers from anxiety such as myself. Tim
 
jules11 said:
Could anyone honestly say they would want these things? I know it’s to pray for the grace to bear being humiliated and lowly…
Click to expand...
If one is truly humble, then one can’t really be humiliated because one already thinks of himself as nothing. The grace to bear humiliation comes through the virtue of humiity, but that doesn’t mean that every humble person will be subjected to humiliation. Yet for those who aren’t already humble, humiliation helps us achieve that virtue the hard way–it’s probably much easier just say the prayer and mean it.
 
Don’t confuse humiliation with being humble. Being humble just means that you are putting other people’s needs and wants before you own. If the litany is “too scary” for you, why not try St. Francis’s Peace Prayer?

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
 
I find humility most difficult when slighted or insulted by someone who should know better, or who is in a position over me. My lack of control over the situation, and helplessness infuriates me, sometimes. For instance, at the workplace. I wonder if that is a root cause of lack of humility; the inablility to control what is happening.
 
baltobetsy said:
I think the prayer shows a good understanding of our human pride and fear of humiliation. That’s why the first part asks for deliverance from the desires and fears and the second part asks for the grace to desire the things mentioned. If it asked for all those difficult things to actually happen, nobody would pray it! But to be delivered from fear of humiliation is a very freeing thing.

Betsy
Click to expand...
Well said. It’s hard to want to do God’s will. That’s why we pray for the desire to want to do it.
 
It’s a difficult prayer to say, but that gives me all the more reason to say it because I know I need to grow in this area.

My friends and I used to say it each week as part of our household (like a sorority - except faith-based) and it really helped keep our lives in focus. I LOVE this prayer! 🙂
 
my favorite prayer!!!
it does seem scary at first, but dontworrry, it really helps
=)
 
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