Many Christians now are in the liturgical season of Lent, (Feb 18, 2026) to just before Easter, a period for repentance and spiritual renewal.
Consider, in that regard, the Beatitudes and the Litany of Humility, which both dramatize the great reversal of values called for, where what humans normally prize (status, power, recognition, self‑assertion) is inverted and replaced by poverty of spirit, meekness, and self‑forgetful love.
"The Sermon On The Mount" (Mt 5:3-12) begins with "The Beatitudes," an astounding and jarring reversal of human values, where those who are “blessed” (happy!!) are those one would never assert should be happy:
Poor in spirit (humble)
Those who mourn (their spiritual poverty)
The meek (gentle out of awareness of their spiritual poverty)
Who hunger and thirst for righteousness (fervently desire to rectify their spiritual poverty)
The merciful (forgiving and compassionate)
The pure in heart (no selfishness)
The peacemakers (not the "absence of conflict” but the absolute fulfillment of goodness)
Persecuted for righteousness (misunderstood by the powerful).
Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val’s Litany of Humility illustrates interior movements that illustrate the implications of the Beatitudes.
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Make my heart like yours.
From self-will, deliver me, O Lord.
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Lord.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Lord.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Lord.
From the desire of being honoured, deliver me, O Lord.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, O Lord.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, O Lord.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, O Lord.
From the desire to be understood, deliver me, O Lord.
From the desire to be visited, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of being abandoned, deliver me, O Lord.
From the fear of being refused, deliver me, O Lord
That others may be loved more than I, Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.
that others may be esteemed more than I, Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside. Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.
At being unknown and poor, Lord, I want to rejoice.
At being deprived of the natural perfections of body and mind, Lord, I want to rejoice.
When people do not think of me, Lord, I want to rejoice.
When they assign to me the meanest tasks, Lord, I want to rejoice
When they do not even deign to make use of me, Lord, I want to rejoice.
When they never ask my opinion, Lord, I want to rejoice.
When they leave me at the lowest place, Lord, I want to rejoice.
When they never compliment me, Lord, I want to rejoice.
When they blame me in season and out of season, Lord, I want to rejoice.
This is an astounding and almost unthinkable “ask,” yet it aligns with the “great reversal” of the Beatitudes, and illustrates the attitudes we might strive for.
Compared to our typical human values, upside down humbleness and humility in every way.
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