The prayers below come from two places. One is the Big Book’s Seventh Step. The other is a Catholic prayer, the Litany of Humility, which many people in recovery have found by accident and kept.
Historical Context
The Litany asks to be delivered from things most people never admit they want: to be esteemed, to be praised, to be preferred to others. For anyone in recovery who has spent years managing other people’s opinion of them, it can be startlingly honest.
The Seventh Step Prayer
My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad.
I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character
which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows.
Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding.
Amen.
From the Litany of Humility
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, Jesus.
A Prayer Against Needing Approval
God, I care far too much about what people think of me.
I pretend to be smarter, stronger or nicer than I am.
Let me be who I really am in front of you and in front of them.
Keep me from puffing up at praise and collapsing at criticism.
Amen.
Best Times for This Prayer
- When working Steps Six and Seven.
- Before sharing at a meeting, or after you’ve shared and feel exposed.
- When criticism stings or praise goes to your head.
- As a morning prayer alongside the Third Step Prayer.
Scripture Connection
“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.” — 2 Corinthians 3:5
This is humility in one sentence: not “I am nothing,” but “what I have comes from God.” It frees you from both pride and self-hatred at once.
Related prayers
See the full 7th Step Prayer page and the 3rd Step Prayer. Before meetings, many groups use the Set Aside Prayer.