Novena Surrender Rosary - Holy Family School of Faith
One
Storm novena
In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul reminds us that “…but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 5: 20-21.) Thus, in every age, especially the most sinful, God provides grace through saints as an antidote to the vexations of the times. In our own era, we have had many saints who have provided much medicine to our sinfulness: Padre Pio, John Paul II, Mother Theresa, and the recently beatified Carlo Acutis, to name a few. But there is another holy man whom God sent to us in modern times to teach us particular remedies specific to our age, the stigmatist miracle working priest of Naples, Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo, who died in 1970. Fr. Dolindo, whose name means “pain,” suffered immeasurably for the Lord and for the Church, and as a result, was considered a mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit and who was told by Padre Pio, “the whole of paradise is in your soul.” He was profoundly humble and spent long hours in prayer and solitude and was therefore given messages from our Lord, telling him he would be a martyr, but in his heart, not by his blood. Jesus also gave him one of the most powerful remedies for us today: The Surrender Novena. If you are overwhelmed with fear, concern, anger, worry about the culture and/or loved ones, then sit back and pray tonight with a ready heart, a heart ready…to learn the secret of completely surrendering to Jesus!
Two
What our Lord asks of us flies in the face of our normal response to the concerns that increase around us. Just like the time when Jesus was off praying alone at night and the apostles were in the boat seemingly without him. They recognized the storm at sea and believed by experience and human understanding that they were doomed but were wrong because they discounted this one fact—Jesus was with them. So, too, we discount this same fact as we succumb all too easily to worry regarding the storm that surrounds us. Instead, let us flee from our all too human understanding and interpretation of things to be rescued by these beautiful words our Lord told Fr. Dolindo, “Surrender to Me. This does not mean to fret, to be upset, or to lose hope, nor does it mean offering to Me a worried prayer asking Me to follow you and change your worry into prayer. It is against this surrender, deeply against it, to worry, to be nervous and to desire to think about the consequences of anything. It is like the confusion that children feel when they ask their mother to see to their needs, and then try to take care of those needs for themselves so that their childlike efforts get in their mother’s way. Surrender means to placidly close the eyes of the soul, to turn away from thoughts of tribulation and to put yourself in My care, so that only I act, saying, O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!”
Three
Jesus continues, “Do you see evil growing instead of weakening? Do not worry, close your eyes and say to Me with faith, ‘Thy will be done, You take care of it.’ I say to you that I will take care of it, and that I will intervene as does a doctor; and I will accomplish miracles when they are needed. Do you see that the sick person is getting worse? Do not be upset, but close your eyes and say, ‘you take care of it, Jesus.’ I say to you that I will take care of it, and that there is no medicine more powerful than My loving intervention. By My love, I promise this to you.” O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything.
Four
“I perform miracles in proportion to your full surrender to Me and to your not thinking of yourselves. I sow treasure troves of graces when you are in the deepest poverty. No person of reason, no thinker, has ever performed miracles…He does divine works whosoever surrenders to God. So don’t think about it anymore, because your mind is acute and for you it is very hard to see evil and to trust in Me and to not think of yourself. Do this for all your needs; do this all of you and you will see great continual silent miracles. I will take care of things; I promise this to you.” O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Five
Dear Jesus, you send great saints to us to help us in the particular needs of our age! Thank you for these revelations given to your humble servant Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo. Our human reason tells us too easily to fear; to fear because it seems that we are surrounded by enemies, that your ship of Peter is taking water, and it is the dark of night, and we are furlongs from shore. But You, oh Jesus, speak to us the truth: You are at work, You calm the storms by your word, You give us the power to walk on water if we but trust in Your saving power! Jesus, I believe, help my unbelief! One necessary concrete step may mean to cease reading so much news and social media. The other is to pray to you with the childlike confidence of Fr. Dolindo. So let us pray with this confidence, O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything! You can order copies of the full version of this beautiful novena by going to fullofgraceusa.com.