The hardest prayer in the book, asked line by line, for a heart free of its own reputation.
A litany that asks to be delivered from the desires and fears that keep a person circling their own standing.
When: After Communion, or on any day you notice you are keeping score against other people.
Why: It names the specific hungers behind most restlessness: to be praised, preferred, consulted, approved. Naming them out loud is where their power starts to break.
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.
Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being esteemed, 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,
Deliver me, Jesus.
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,
Deliver me, Jesus.
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be loved more than I, 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,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.