Reflection: Litany of Humility

Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of Heart, for My yoke is easy and My burden light." Matthew 11:28-30

A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good.

Humility is a virtue that a person recognizes his or her total dependence on God. It restrains the unruly desire for personal greatness and leads a person to an orderly love and appreciation of self with respect to God and neighbor.

Saint Bernard wrote, "Humility is the foundation and guardian of virtues for without it no other virtue can exist in a soul. Should she possess all virtues, all will depart when humility is gone." Saint Francis de Sales wrote to Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, "God so loves humility, that whenever He sees it, He is immediately drawn thither."

Mary, the Mother of God, was the first and perfect disciple of Jesus. From her childhood, she practiced the virtue of humility. By imitating her, we can learn how to practice humility and how to follow her Beloved Son Jesus.

Litany of Humility
Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930)
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

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 ...
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.

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…

O Mary, Mother of Mercy, help us to imitate Jesus, your Beloved Son.  "Learn from Me, because I am meek and humble of heart."