Pray as You Can, Not As You Can’t

Lots of you are asking about the Litany of Humility Check it out here: ascensionpress.com/pages/litany-of-humility

Father I went to mass today I haven’t gone in decades. You are leading me back to the church ❤️‍🔥.

The Litany of Humility is a very misunderstood prayer. People think they are praying to be unliked and unloved etc. But the prayer is a prayer to be free from fear and desire. The great beauty of the prayer is that if you are given humility you can still be extolled and loved and you can simply accept it as a blessing but you aren't going to fall to pieces if you lose it or get the opposite. it's a prayer for strength.

Fr. Mike, i wanted to say thank you. I am recently back to the Catholic Church after a few years and I could not be happier. I am also discerning religious life and you have been a huge part in my faith recently. Thank you for everything you do for your flock and I offer prayers for you everyday. You are the best!

As a newly recovering alcoholic and returning to my catholic faith, this seems like the only way to strive to live. Pride will be the death of me if I let it. This looks to me to be the only way of crushing my pride and this is what I want to strive to want, even though I don’t want it now. Thank you Fr. Mike ❤

I teach 8th grade in Toronto Canada, we pray this litany every day after lunch. My great 8 saints quickly remind me if I ever forget to pray it with them 🙏

Actually, a 'pray together' daily prayer podcast for the year would be awesome! All the classic prayers, all the lesser known prayers from church history/doctors of the church/various religious members. Include commentary about the author of the prayer, historical setting, what the prayer means and how it applies to us, and then lead us to pray it.

Fr. Mike, I am not Catholic, but you just answered so many questions for me. I wasn't even looking for you, but there you were. You, literally, just changed my life. Thank you and Blessings.

I learned the Litany of Humility a few months ago from Ken & Janelle Yasinski's channel. At first, yes, it was hard. But the more I sat with it and prayed with it, I've slowly come to realize that a lot of the mistakes and failures in my life were actually based on Pride, and this prayer combats it. Please strive with it too. It's really good. :)

Im so angry that I have been praying to God what I think he wants to hear, out of fear of eternal damnation - it’s only recently I’ve learnt he’s not a tyrant but a loving, tender friend and father ❤

Amen!!! As I sit here, after a cancer diagnosis, I understand why it would have been harder for me to pray this before, now it is different. As I battle this illness, I know the Lord is here next to me, carrying me through this, and this prayer feels to me perfect, as there is no way I can repay God for His support, but to give Him everything He has given me and surrender myself to Him!

This is the way I feel about the rosary, I find it difficult to stick to it and to do the meditations correctly, and put my heart into it. I wish I could have this discipline...

Be careful what you pray for! When I encountered the LItany of Humility early in 2019, I couldn't make it past the first line in 3 weeks of trying. I committed to praying the Litany daily during Lent because it was obvious it was a need. Finally, on the morning of Ash Wednesday, I was able to pray the entire Litany. Within an hour, I had lost most of my vision and feeling on one side of my body. Each day, my symptoms became worse but I persevered praying the Litany. In short, I was unable to return to my high-stress career and had to adjust to being dependent on the Lord and others for everything. It was not the outcome I had anticipated but it was the most incredible answer to prayer. Now I am filled with joy and peace beyond my wildest dreams. Praise be the Lord Jesus. PS -- Merry del Val was not the author of the Litany but it became associated with him because he prayed it daily; the original was published when the Cardinal was 2 years old.

WHEN I FIRST HEARD ABOUT THE LITANY OF HUMILITY PRAYER IS ALMOST SCARED ME. IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO SAY YOU WANT OTHERS TO DO BETTER THAN YOU. TO NOT WANT TO BE ACKNOWLEDGE FOR ANYTHING YOU DO BUT ALWAYS OTHERS ARE RECOGNIZE INSTEAD OF YOU. IT'S NOT AN EASY PRAYER BUT IT SURE IS A GOOD WAY TO GROW IN HUMILITY & CHARITY. :)

Begin your prayer with honesty -good advice

Perfect timing, I plan to begin this prayer, especially these parts: "From sudden and unprovided death, deliver us, O Lord" and "That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should."

I always think that the opposite of Pride (feeling that one can do no wrong) is not Humility, it is Despair (feeling that you can do no right). If you struggle with despair and a low sense of self-worth, the Litany of Humility can actually be frightening. I realized last year that my problem was that I did not feel I was worthy of love, including God's love, so that Litany actually caused a panic response. I think the point I'm trying to make is that many Catholic prayers require a certain sense of security first - a full trust in the love of God and an ability to receive that love - before they can be engaged with. So work first towards that.

This is amazing! I’m a testament to this. Years ago I simply could not pray the take Lord and receive prayer. It seemed to ask too much! Now I pray it every morning with all my heart.

I think that in the younger generations today there is a widespread fear of not being "enough", so we seek ways to capture a sense of stability for our ego, and often this comes in the form of pride. In my personal experience, this pride has taken the shape of isolation, arrogance, self-pity, etc. And that pride is a cage that we lock ourselves in because we feel if we don't, then that feeling of not being "enough" will only increase. This litany captures the essence of what God has been trying to show me for a long time. All we have to do is come as we are, and we are enough. We can be the lowest of the low, and still be enough. Because God made us, and our own criticisms and those if others are irrelevant against that fact. God wishes us to embrace this truth so that we are no longer caged in by our pride. Humility is a beautiful journey.

That's sound advice Father. God knows our heart anyway, better than we know it, so denying what is truly in there is a fools errand to begin with. It's like trying to hide in a brightly lit room with no furniture. "The tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner'...Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” ― Luke 18