I think it’s probably fair to guess that most of us don’t like sitting in our own humiliation. To be quite honest, I think most of us try very hard to avoid being humiliated. We’d rather bury those moments of feeling foolish or ashamed instead of giving even a single bit of oxygen to them. How far we must have to go then, to think of humiliation as our daily food as St. Faustina did in her diary.

“Humiliation is my daily food. I understand that the bride must herself share in everything that is the groom’s; and so His cloak of mockery must cover me, too. At those times when I suffer much, I try to remain silent, as I do not trust my tongue which, at such moments, is inclined to talk for itself, while its duty is to help me praise God for all the blessings and gifts which He has given me. When I receive Jesus in Holy Communion, I ask Him fervently to deign to heal my tongue so that I would offend neither God nor neighbor by it. I want my tongue to praise God without cease. Great are the faults committed by the tongue. The soul will not attain sanctity if it does not keep watch over its tongue.” (St. Faustina’s Diary, 92)

To associate with humiliation in such a way as to highlight it as one of the primary things that sustains temporal life within us is a whole other way of thinking about and associating with the virtue of humility. Humiliation tends to squash our pride and ego, and therefore can most certainly lead us into a disposition of humility. While humiliation describes the way we might feel in reactive response to something, humility is a willful act of the interior. Humility is a result of a conscious decision to respond to circumstances (both positive and negative) in a way that minimizes self adulation and pomp.

St. Faustina writes of the temptation of her tongue. Her interior instincts are to react and defend, acknowledging her tongue to be untrustworthy. She recognizes that she much prefers to use her tongue to praise God without ceasing, but in moments of suffering her tongue is inclined to do otherwise, and I’m sure we can all relate. St. Faustina reminds herself to try to remain silent as “His cloak of mockery must cover me, too.”

A Cloak of Mockery
A heavy, burdensome, dark, cloak of mockery was draped upon our Savior, and He just accepted it – in silence – for us despite of, and because of our sinfulness. What a juxtaposition; The King cloaked in mockery, the subject of heinous brutality, not a word of rebuttal, not a single order given, just silent submission to God the Father. True and perfect humility.

Accepting humiliation can be a pathway to the virtue of humility – seeing ourselves as we truly are and in respect to our relationship with God. To be clear, “humiliation occurs to a person. On the other hand, humility is a whole-person response to God and to others. It is a reflection and demonstration of one’s inner man — his heart.”¹ In other words, humility is a choice in how we inwardly and outwardly respond in circumstances (often out of our control), even those circumstances that bring humiliation upon us. Therefore, humiliation can be a great teacher of humility.

Humility
Humility is defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the virtue by which a Christian acknowledges that God is the author of all good. Humility avoids inordinate ambition or pride, and provides the foundation for turning to God in prayer (2559). Voluntary humility can be described as “poverty of spirit” (2546).²

Interestingly enough humility can be simplified as the foundation of prayer.³ Prayer can be purified through an emptying of self. Pride must be expunged from our hearts, resulting in a humble and contrite heart, a heart open and zealous for God above all – even at the expense of self.

He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is the beggar before God.”⁴

Humility puts us in “right order” to God the Creator.

Exorcist Father Gabriel Amorth in the book, Father Amorth: My Battle Against Satan, answers the following question in regard to exorcisms, “What are the practices and techniques that have proven most effective over the years?” The question being asked was of the exorcist himself not of the subject of the exorcism. Father Amorth responded saying, “Faith, prayer, humility, humility, humility, humility, humility. To be effective one always needs more faith and more humility, to be certain of being a good-for-nothing, more trusting in the Lord, and more willing to abandon oneself to the mercy of God.”⁵

In his book he spoke of the effectiveness of true humility in exorcisms many times. In this simple response, Father Amorth repeats the word humility five times. We can most certainly presume this repetition is due to the necessity and effectiveness a life of humility wields against Satan.

Surely in today’s age, the lesson of humility might be one of the most difficult for us humans to learn. We are daily being bombarded with messages of all things that revolve around self, leading to a puffing up of self rather than a proper ordering of self in relation to our Savior. The culture tells us, self first and often above all. While I do believe we shouldn’t neglect ourselves (the body is the temple), that we often need to create real boundaries for ourselves and our well-being, and that loathing one’s self is not humility, but rather anchored in the anti-christ, it is important to note that making ourselves the center of our own universe is contrary to recognizing our almighty Creator as the source and summit of ALL things – including us.

St. Theresa of Avila recognized,

“There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge of the world.”

A Practical Approach
The first movement of the prayer of petition is asking forgiveness, like the tax collector in the parable: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” It is a prerequisite for righteous and pure prayer. A trusting humility brings us back into the light of communion between the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and with one another, so that “we receive from him whatever we ask.” Asking forgiveness is the prerequisite for both the Eucharistic liturgy and personal prayer.⁶

If asking forgiveness is the prerequisite for both the Eucharistic liturgy and personal prayer, then most certainly the first step in pursuing true humility is the Sacrament of Confession. Confession provides clarity of self, rightly orders self to God the Father and Creator, and paves the way for personal prayer to be renewed and purified. If humility is the foundation for prayer, then we know we are on the right path through this ‘formula’ to receive freely the gift of prayer.

Litany of Humility
From time to time I have found myself in a spiritual rut of sorts, and this ‘formula’ of Confession, reception of the Eucharist in the Holy Mass, and recommitting to prayer (maybe even a new routine of prayer), seems to help quite a bit. More recently I have found myself in one such spiritual rut. I guess that is what has led me to being invigorated to write this piece in that regard. The prayer that I have been using as an aid to both renew my prayer life and also work on my own humility is the Litany of Humility.

One of my sisters shared this Litany with me and wowzers, let me tell you this one stings a bit because of its exactitude and ability to draw out some tough self-reflection. Humility is haaaarrrddd, friends! Maybe y’all are more advanced in this virtue than me and it’s just me out here going, ‘dang, I have sooo far to go and so much to learn,’ but I’m so grateful to be learning it and learning to see myself as I truly am. I must decrease, He must increase.

I invite you to pray with me, friend…

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 loved, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, 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 suffering rebukes, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, 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 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 set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I 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.

This Litany has become a way to face my humanity in a new way, countering the urgings of the world and instead redirecting myself back to Christ. This litany both deconstructs, and then reconstructs oneself. The Litany of Humility has become a faithful and honest teacher in this season of my life as I learn how to pray once again. May it be a mirror and a teacher for you as well, in this journey with Christ Jesus. May we all see ourselves as we are and learn to abandon ourselves to the grace and love of our one true Savior that is always drawing us to Himself and to eternity in Heaven. May our pursuit of true humility (and therefore love) become the bridge to Heaven.

“The Blessed Virgin… instructed me concerning the interior life. She said, The soul’s true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His presence, completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing; because the Lord is great, but He is well pleased only with the humble; He always opposes the proud.” (St. Faustina’s Diary, 1711)

Humbly,
Jackie

1. ACBC. The difference between Humility and humiliation – Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. https://biblicalcounseling.com/resource-library/articles/the-difference-between-humility-and-humiliation/?srsltid=AfmBOorpW0GpMCnqb9jNx_eQkr0x-75Ro70trVMeSUcaGzaR0qKMhinK.
2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), [Glossary, pg 882]
3. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), [2559]
4. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), [2559]
5. Amorth, Gabriel and Fezzi. 2018. Father Amorth: My Battle against Satan. Sophia Institute Press.
6. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), [2631]