A Prayer of Humility

Read the following poem when you are feeling a little pensive, and let it convict you as it did me.

"Oh, Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.
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 being rebuked,
From the fear of being forgotten,
From the fear of being wronged,
From the fear of being suspected.

"And, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire
That others might 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 become as holy as I should."

Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930)