Litany of Humility: A Prayer for a Beloved Sinner

Today's 11 a.m. Mass celebrant at our parish, Father Peter Cebulka, C.O., recommended we look up the Litany of Humility. Father Peter, who is chaplain of the Catholic Center at Rutgers, said he recommended the prayer to a student recently. Later, the young man texted him:  The student texted him: Litany of Humility. I love it. I hate it. 

Boy oh boy do I need this prayer. As Father Peter told us, we need to remember that we are beloved sinners. That is our identity. If we think too much about how we are beloved by God, we might fall into pride. If we focus too much on our sinful nature, we might never feel we can connect with the One who called us into being. 

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

From the desire of being esteemed,

Deliver me, Jesus. (repeat after each line)

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, 

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 may be loved more than I, 

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. (repeat after each line) 

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.