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To be taken with
love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but on the greatness
of its humility. |
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—St. John of the Cross
The
Sayings of Light and Love, 103 |
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 S YOU PRAY the Litany
of Humility, you ask for three different graces that will allow you to
live a genuine Christian life. These are the graces
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to set aside your
attempts to make yourself feel “special” through the acceptance
and admiration of others; |
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to overcome your
repugnance to feeling emotionally hurt by
others; |
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to seek the good
of others in all things, setting aside all
competition, even at your own expense. |
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Still, let’s be careful
that this is done in a psychologically healthy manner.
First, it’s good when our
work is recognized and appreciated; the spiritual point is that we
shouldn’t crave this admiration as an aspect of a personal
identity, but that we endeavor to accept all benefits
of our work in praise of Christ, who emptied Himself for our sake, who suffered
for us, who died on a cross for us, and in whose service we do our work.
But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
(Galatians 6:14).
Second, we all feel
hurt when someone
insults us; still, the spiritual point is that we
don’t need to build up psychological
defenses to protect ourselves from the pain of being insulted if only,
even in our deepest hurt, we always endeavor to trust in Christ, who alone
will protect us from all danger. Be not
afraid, as Jesus says repetitively throughout
the Gospels.
Finally, although “placing
others first” runs counter to natural self-preservation, the spiritual
point is that, if we really trust in God, not only can we stop
competing with others to satisfy our
pride but also we can endeavor to notice the needs
of others, looking on others with compassion,
in the hope that they might be saved from damnation
because of their own desperate obsession with self-preservation. Nevertheless,
our concern for others must not take on a form of
masochism or self-defilement; in all of our charity
to others we must never relinquish the
responsibility of developing our talents to the
fullest, so that we can serve Christ effectively and
joyfully, in pure
love.
O JESUS!
meek [1]
and humble of heart, |
Hear
me. |
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FROM the desire
of being esteemed, |
Deliver me,
Jesus. |
From
the desire of being loved, |
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From
the desire of being extolled, |
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From
the desire of being honored, |
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From
the desire of being praised, |
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From
the desire of being preferred, |
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From
the desire of being consulted, |
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From
the desire of being approved, |
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FROM the fear of being
humiliated, |
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From
the fear of being despised, |
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From
the fear of being rebuked, |
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From
the fear of being
calumniated,[2] |
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From
the fear of being forgotten, |
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From
the fear of being ridiculed, |
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From
the fear of being wronged, |
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From
the fear of being suspected, |
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THAT others may be loved more
than I, |
Jesus, grant
me the
grace to desire it. |
That others
may be esteemed more
than I, |
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That, in
the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may
decrease, |
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That others
may be chosen and I set
aside, |
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That others
may be praised and I
unnoticed, |
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That others
may be preferred to me
in everything, |
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That others
may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy
as I should, |
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—by Rafael Cardinal Merry del
Val (1865-1930),
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X
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1. Note that the word meek has two meanings,
one positive and one negative. In its positive (and theological) sense, as
used here, it means “patient and kind” and is equivalent to
“merciful.” In its negative (and
anti-theological secular) sense it means “submissive” or
“spineless.”
2. How many people say this word routinely without
even knowing what it means or bothering to look it up in a dictionary? Well,
it means “to be falsely accused” or “slandered.” It is
pronounced as kuh-LUHM-nee-ay-tihd.
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