Why Would Anyone Pray the Litany of Humility?

I love the Litany of Humility!

However, it was not love at first sight. I remember the first time someone mentioned the prayer to me. I wasn’t familiar with it so I googled. I made the sign of the Cross and immediately began praying the prayer; but I couldn’t digest the words. I had to switch out of ‘praying it’ mode into just ‘reading it’ mode so that I could get to the end without choking. The thoughts running through my head were along the lines of ‘This is ridiculous! How could anyone pray this! If people do pray this then they are not being honest with themselves.”

I pushed the prayer aside for a length of time but eventually reason prevailed. The Litany of Humility is a spiritual classic written by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X. The Cardinal has not been declared a saint yet but he is Servant of God and could very well be named a saint one day. Bottom line, this man was a wee bit holier than I. Also, his prayer had been recommended to me by people who are all a bit holier than I also.

I took some spiritual tums and prayerfully took a second look at the litany.

Indigestion in check, I saw the prayer with new eyes and I liked what I saw. In the first paragraph, I wasn’t praying ‘don’t esteem me’ as I had originally thought. I was praying, please take away the desire that I be esteemed. Don’t let the desire for esteem rule my decisions and actions. And similarly, through the second paragraph of the litany, I wasn’t praying ‘humiliate me’. I was praying please free me from the fear of people humiliating and embarrassing me. Please don’t let that fear rule my life. I began to imagine what my life would be like without these fears and desires and I liked what I envisioned…freedom! Freedom from fear and worry. I saw a life where honoring God’s wishes was a lot easier because I was not distracted with worries of what other people would think about me or how they would treat me.

When I got to the third and fourth paragraphs the tums must have worn off because I started having difficulty again.

“That others may be loved more than I …Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.”? That’s tough. Okay Lord. I can see this is a good thing that I should desire. Please give me the grace. After all, I did just pray to be delivered from the desire of being loved.

When I got to the fourth paragraph I choked again. I choked because there was a difficult person in my life that I was trying to imagine into the prayer. So instead of praying ‘that others may be esteemed more than I’, I was praying ‘that the difficult person may be more esteemed than I’. I think I was testing myself. Could I really do it? Was I sincere or was I just reading through the prayer on automatic pilot? I really didn’t know. So I tried to continue through the lines of the prayer. I eeked my way to the last line and then thankfully, by the grace of God, it all came together for me. Upon reading the last line,

“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. “ my first unfortunate response was a selfish “But she’s not holier than me. That is the whole problem; she is nasty…to me!” And then the obvious struck me. If she were holier than I, then there would be no problem. She wouldn’t be so nasty anymore.

I had my answer; I could and do sincerely pray this prayer.

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

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 ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
Fromthe 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 ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

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 may become as holy as I should…