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,
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,
deliver me, Jesus.
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,

That others maybe 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.

-Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val

This is a wonderful prayer that I have grown to love. I remember when I first read it, I thought, "What....come one. Isn't that a little extreme!?" But I don't think it is. If pride is the fall of man, well, humility is what I need to strive for every minute!! It truly is amazing, when I take time to think about it, how self-centered I am. Really, when I am unconscious of it, I naturally want life to revolve around my own desires and me. Having children, now, it is almost comical to see how human beings are wired to be self-centered. True humility is one solution to solve this problem.

Last night after Mike and I had a long conversation, I was able to see error in my thinking about a certain topic. Thank goodness for a such a patient husband to correct me when I am mistaken! Hopefully, I always have the humility to listen to him. ;)