Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Litany of Humility


A friend of mine sent the following prayer, which was written by Servant of God Cardinal Merry del Val (above). Every cell in my body protests against it, which is how I know that I must say it every day, preferably several times a day.

O Jesus meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed,
From the desire of being loved,
From the desire of being extolled,
From the desire of being honored,
From the desire of being praised,
From the desire of being preferred to others,
From the desire of being consulted,
From the desire of being approved,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated,
From the fear of being despised,
From the fear of suffering rebukes,
From the fear of being calumniated,
From the fear of being forgotten,
From the fear of being ridiculed,
From the fear of being wronged,
From the fear of being suspected,
Deliver me, Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I,
That others may be esteemed more than I,
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase, and I may decrease,
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
That others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. Amen.

5 comments:

Sheila said...

Wow. I join you in revolting against it and in knowing that it must become my prayer. Thank you for sharing this.

Pentimento said...

I hate it, but I need it . . .

Sally Thomas said...

Yeah. Wow. I think I know what I'll be praying while I walk the dog.

Unknown said...

Wow! This is amazing! Parts are uncomfortably wonderful - like warm water on frozen fingers. Thanks so much.

Paul said...

The thing I most dislike about this prayer is that after I'd been saying it for a while it started being answered, and then you find out just how much you meant it.