"The first and most important thing to say about John Dominic Crossan's work is that it is bad history."

- D.A. Carson
Litany of Humility

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 become as holy as I should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

Written by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val.

[Hat Tip: Kingdom People]

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Comments on "Litany of Humility":
1. Raindream - 08/27/2007 7:29 am CDT

Goodness, that's a hard prayer. "Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it."

2. Quaid - 08/27/2007 9:20 am CDT

"calumniated"

What does that mean?

Early in the morning question (so I'm probably emabarassing myself) . . .

If holy means "set apart" how is it possible to be more set apart than someone else? Either I am made holy or I am not - right?

3. De - 08/27/2007 10:11 am CDT

ca·lum·ni·ate

–verb (used with object), -at·ed, -at·ing.
to make false and malicious statements about; slander.


I think there are degrees of "set-apart-ness". But I'm no expert on holiness . . . sadly.

4. maripat - 08/27/2007 10:49 am CDT

Wow! thanks De for posting that.

5. Manders - 08/30/2007 2:18 pm CDT

Wow. Just, wow. That's a hard but necessary prayer.

And maybe the part about holiness is about sanctification? I don't know...

Comments are closed