On our parish News Sheets this Lent, we're looking through the “Litany of Humility.”
A litany is a form of prayer with a repeated responsive petition and in the Book of Common Prayer, there is a litany that is “to be sung or said after Morning Prayer, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”
The Litany of Humility, at least in this form, was written by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, the Secretary of State to Pope Pius X, in the early Twentieth Century. C. S. Lewis found this prayer particularly helpful, and many people use it as part of their daily prayer life, especially during Lent.
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honoured, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O 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 go 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 may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
Alongside the fear of disapproval, in the second section of petitions we also ask Jesus to deliver us from the fear of being calumniated, wronged and suspected. These are similar to the fear of disapproval but carry with them the sense of unjust suffering. But again we're not asking to be delivered from unjust suffering, but we're asking to not let the fear of unjust suffering stop us from following God's ways.
This is a great reminder that becoming a Christian doesn't mean that our life becomes trouble-free. Indeed in some ways the opposite is true. Jesus tells us that following him means denying ourselves and taking up our cross (Mark 8:34), and that we will face unjust persecution just as he did (John 15:20). This means that not only will we face the normal difficulties of life, but that we will also face suffering when we do what is right and good. When we live as God wants us to live, and share our faith as he has commanded us to do, we may encounter not just ridicule, but our motives might be twisted and it may result in things like broken relationships, loss of social standing, or damage to careers.
Peter wrote “if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed...it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:14,17). If we are afraid of such consequences we may shy away from living out our faith as whole-heartedly as we should.
One way God answers this prayer for deliverance from fear is to give us examples, both in the Bible and throughout the history of the Church, of those for whom following God's ways led to suffering. Stephen was the first of many Christian martyrs (Acts 6-7); Paul speaks of his sufferings for the gospel in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27; in Revelation, John describes himself as a “companion in the suffering” (Revelation 1:9) along with the churches he is writing to.
Another way God helps us is to show us that we don't have to 'grin and bear' this suffering, or, as Kipling would have it, to treat Triumph and Disaster as if they are the same. Instead, God caused words of anger, frustration and bemoaning to be recorded as part of Holy Scripture – indeed there is a whole book called Lamentations! The Psalms in particular give expression to these feelings: Psalm 13:1-2 says “How long will my enemy triumph over me?”; Psalm 73:3,13,14 says “I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure...All day long I have been afflicted”.
However, most famously Psalm 22 starts with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, which takes us to the ultimate example of undeserved suffering: Jesus. He is the reason Peter says we should suffer for doing good. And if we share in his sufferings we will also share in his glory (Romans 8:17).
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