A Prayer for the Quiet Path of Humility

O Lord of mercy and hidden glory

teach my heart the way of lowliness.

Let me flee vainglory as a man flees a burning house

for it chokes the soul and blinds the eyes to You.

Grant me to fear pride

as one fears a precipice in the night

knowing that one careless step

can cast the heart into ruin.

Deliver me from the thirst to be seen

from the hunger to be praised

from the restless desire to possess or to be thought great.

Let me turn away from all that stirs my passions

and all who kindle in me the memory of sin.

Guard my thoughts O Lord

that even the shadow of vanity

may not take root within me.

Draw me instead to the righteous

to those who walk with quietness of spirit

whose very presence carries the fragrance of Your Kingdom.

Let me learn from the humble

those who bow low and speak little

those whose lives shine more loudly than their words.

Give me grace to be shaped by their example

to be instructed by their silence

to receive their counsel with an obedient heart.

Make me content with the unnoticed path

with the narrow way that leads to life.

Let every quarrel die within me

every claim fall away

every urge to justify myself be surrendered into Your hands.

O Christ

teach me to renounce all things

that I may discover the freedom You promise.

Magnify in me only what belongs to You

and bury forever what rises from my own pride.

Grant me the company of the saints

the shelter of the meek

the peace that comes from walking quietly in Your presence.

And let the whole movement of my life

be a single prayer of humility

rising like incense before Your face.

Amen.