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| Southwell Minster Chapter House in England, where the original version of this Litany was initially used. |
This litany, adapted from its 19th century
original meant for clergy, is offered as a tool for spiritual self-examination
by serious Christians. It assumes the user believes that our baptismal vows
(and confirmation/marital vows, if applicable) are at the center of our life
and the essential measures to which we are accountable in living out the Gospel. By
using this litany, we are exploring some of the oft-hidden dimensions of
discipleship, as well as the resistance we subtly (or not so subtly) put up to
the Holy Spirit’s leading of our life.
By bringing these truths to consciousness, we are much
better able to come before God in humility and reality. We are also better
able to make amends with others when we are open to the truth of ourselves. Our
effectiveness as reconcilers depends on it.
This litany has proven useful in a number of ways:
- As a regular devotion during the quarterly
Embertides, or at other times of special reflection on ministry (e.g. a baptismal anniversary)
- As a Friday devotion
- As a preparation for making a private confession
- As a prelude to journaling on the subject of our
discipleship
- As the conclusion to Morning or Evening Prayer, or
as a Noon devotion
If, during your use of this litany, you become aware
of significant matters needing redress, please contact your local parish and
speak with the priest or other pastoral counsel. All discipleship requires
grounding in a community and in the worship of Almighty God for it to be balanced,
whole, and pointed toward truth and healing.
Preface:
Seeing that we are fragile
but entrusted with important work, and that this work will be hindered by our
infirmities of body, soul, and spirit, let us pray God will show us our faults
and the harm of what we have not cared
to control, giving us strength and wisdom to do more perfectly the work to
which our lives have been consecrated in holy baptism.
Let us pray:
O Lord, open our minds to see
ourselves as you see us, or as others see us and we see others; and from all
unwillingness to know our weaknesses;
Save us and help
us, O Lord.
From moral weakness of spirit, from fear of
responsibility, strengthen us with courage to speak the truth as our baptismal
vows require, and to speak in love and self control; and from all moral
cowardice;
Save us and help
us, O Lord.
From weakness of judgment, from the
indecision that can make no choice, and the irresolution that carries no choice
into action, strengthen our eyes to see and our will to choose the right;
Save us and help
us, O Lord.
From dullness of conscience, from a feeble
sense of our duty, from thoughtless disregard of consequences to others and a
low idea of the obligations of discipleship;
Save us and help
us, O Lord.
From weariness in our continuing struggles,
from despondency in failure and disappointment, from an over-burdened sense of
unworthiness, and from a fixation on our failings, raise us to a lively hope
and trust in your presence and mercy; and from all exaggerated fears and
frustrations;
Save us and help
us, O Lord.
From self-conceit, boasting, and delight in
supposed success and superiority, raise us to the modesty and humility of
honesty, and from all self-delusion;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
From affectation and untruth, conscious or
unconscious, from pretence and acting a part which is hypocrisy, from
impulsively seeking to please persons or make circumstances easy, strengthen us
to godly simplicity; and from all false appearances;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
From love of flattery, from over-ready
belief in praise, from dislike of criticism and resentment of reproof; from the
comfort of self-deception in persuading ourselves that others think better than
the truth of us;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
From pride and self will, from desire to
have own way in all things, from a focus on our own ideas and blindness to the
value of others; enlarge the generosity of our hearts and enlighten the
fairness of our judgment; and from all selfish and arbitrary temper;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
From all jealousy, whether of the people we
serve, of fellow disciples, or those in authority; from grudging others
success, from impatience in godly obedience and eagerness for authority; give
us the spirit of mutuality to share loyally with fellow workers;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
From all hasty utterances of impatience,
from the retort of irritation and the taunt of sarcasm; from all infirmity of
temper in provoking or being provoked, and from love of unkind gossip;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
In all temptations to abandon principle for
expediency, to embrace dishonesty or corruption, or to degrade our high calling
and forget our holy vows; and in all times of frailty in our flesh;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
In times of ignorance and perplexity as to
what is right and best to do in our ministry, O Lord, direct us with wisdom to
judge rightly, and to seek and trust your will in our lives; and in our
mistakes and misunderstandings;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
In times of doubts and questionings, when
our belief is perplexed by new learning, new teaching, new thought, when our
faith is strained by creeds, by doctrines, by mysteries beyond our understanding,
give us the faithfulness of learners and the courage of believers in you; give
us boldness to examine and faith to trust all truth; and in times of change, to
grasp new knowledge thoroughly and to combine it loyally and honestly with the
old; alike from stubborn rejection of new revelations, and from a hasty assurance
that we are wiser than those who came before us;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
From strife and partisanship and division
within the Body, from magnifying our certainties to condemn all differences of
opinion, and from all arrogance in our dealings with others;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
Give us knowledge of ourselves, our
strengths and weaknesses; teach us by the standard of your Word, by the
judgments of others, by examinations of ourselves; give us earnest desire to
strengthen ourselves continually by study, prayer and meditation; and from all
prejudices which narrow our vision of your work and will;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
Give us true knowledge of the people with
whom we serve, in their differences from us and their likeness to us, that we
may deal with their real selves, measuring their feelings by our own, and
patiently considering their varied lives and circumstances; and from false
judgments of our own, from misplaced trust and distrust, misplaced praise and
rebuke;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
Chiefly, O Lord, we pray you, give us
knowledge of you, to see you in all your works, always to feel your presence
near, to hear and know your call. May
your Spirit by our spirit, our words your words, your will our will; be in our
midst as the point of contact between ourselves and others; and throughout our
lives may we have faith in you;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
Finally, O Lord, we pray, blot out our past
negligence and offenses, heal the damage done by our past ignorance, make us
amend for our past mistakes; uplift our hearts to new love, new energy and
devotion, that we may be unburdened from the grief and shame of past
faithlessness to go forth in your strength to persevere through success and
failure, through good report and evil report, even to the end; and in all time
of our tribulation, and in all time of our wealth;
Save
us and help us, O Lord.
O, Christ, hear us.
O, Christ, hear us.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have
mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Our Father, &c.
The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with us
all evermore. Amen.
The original version of this litany was
composed by Dr. George Ridding,
first Bishop of the Diocese of Southwell.
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