| Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
The Litany of Humility begins with a line that cuts straight to the heart:
“From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.”
This prayer is not an easy one. To ask Christ to free us from the craving for esteem, applause, and recognition is to ask Him to strip away one of the most subtle and deeply rooted attachments of the human heart. Yet, the saints—both from the East and the West—show us that such detachment is not only possible but also the true path to holiness.
Eastern Witnesses: Hidden in Christ
In the Christian East, humility has always been celebrated as the gateway to divine union.
- St. Anthony the Great (Egypt, 3rd century), the father of monasticism, fled to the desert not to be admired but to escape the esteem of the world. Ironically, people followed him, esteeming him as a holy man, yet Anthony continually reminded them: “The great work of a monk is to lay his sins before the Lord, and to expect temptation to the last breath.” He sought no human praise, only God’s mercy.
- St. Mary of Egypt (5th century), once a great sinner, lived the last decades of her life in hidden repentance in the desert. She desired no honor, no name, no recognition—only forgiveness. When she was finally discovered by the monk Zosimas, she asked for his prayers, not his admiration. Her life proclaims what the Litany teaches: to be forgotten by the world but remembered by God is the greater blessing.
- St. Silouan the Athonite (20th century) repeated tirelessly that the only path to know God is humility. He warned: “Where there is humility, there is no room for the devil.” His entire teaching echoes the cry of the Litany: freedom from the desire of esteem.
Western Witnesses: Humility Over Honor
The saints of the West equally show that the desire for esteem must die if Christ is to reign fully.
- St. Francis of Assisi (13th century) chose “Lady Poverty” as his bride. Though admired by crowds, he embraced ridicule and even sought out occasions of humiliation to keep his heart grounded in Christ alone. When his friars began to esteem him too much, he would remind them that he was “a simple sinner” in need of mercy.
- St. Thérèse of Lisieux (19th century) longed for the “little way,” hiddenness and obscurity in the cloister. She wrote: “To be unknown, to be held in contempt, these are the joys of the little flower.” Her sanctity flowered precisely because she sought not to be esteemed but to disappear so that Christ might be all.
- St. John Vianney, the humble Curé of Ars, was ridiculed by his seminary peers for his poor Latin and limited intellect. Yet, through his humility and holiness, he became the confessor of thousands. His life reminds us that esteem in the eyes of men is nothing compared to esteem in the eyes of God.
The Challenge for Us Today
We live in a world of “likes,” “followers,” and constant performance. The craving for esteem is no less present—and perhaps more insidious—than in the time of the saints. To pray the Litany of Humility is to make a radical renunciation: to prefer obscurity to fame, hiddenness to recognition, the Cross to applause.
The saints teach us that true freedom comes not when we are esteemed by others but when we are emptied of the need to be esteemed. In that poverty of spirit, Christ Himself fills the soul.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You who humbled Yourself to take the form of a servant, deliver us from our desire for esteem. Teach us to walk in the footsteps of Anthony in the desert, Mary in repentance, Silouan in watchfulness, Francis in poverty, Thérèse in littleness, and Vianney in simplicity. May our hearts be free of vanity, so that we may find our joy in You alone.
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
