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 honored, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being sought out, 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 being rebuked, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being criticized, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being insulted, 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 want it.
That others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
That in the opinion of the world others may increase and I decrease,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
That others may be more holy than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
That others may be preferred before me in everything,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.

May it be.

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This prayer was incorporated into the text of one of the books distributed by e2, Too Much. In writing that book and creating its citations, to the best of our ability, the earliest publications of this prayer we could find were The Fervent Adorer, printed in Dublin in 1867 and Little Manual of Novices, printed in New York in 1880. As a prayer, if you are praying it yourself, make it your own; tweak or rephrase as you feel you should. At present, it is popular for many online sources to cite Saint Francis or Rafael Merry del Val as the author/speaker of this prayer (sometimes titled as “Litany of Trust” or “Prayer of Trust”). However, these publications in the late 19th century do not give an author’s name. It seems God answered the prayer of this saint and their name is, indeed, lost to history. The text above is closest to Little Manual.