Learn how to pray the Surrender Novena by Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo to help you surrender yourself completely to Jesus.
We all go through suffering at different points in our lives. Some people are “lucky” to go through life with little suffering, while others must carry heavy crosses, either physically like cancer or mentally like major depression. Suffering has been a part of life ever since sin entered the world. The important thing, and what we must focus on in the midst of difficult times, is that God can help us carry our cross if we let Him. He may not take away our suffering, but He will give us the grace we need to bear our pain.
I like to imagine Jesus as my friend. A true friend would listen to me and comfort me if I was having a hard time. He would sit with me in my grief and stay there with me until the suffering passed, no matter how long it took. Jesus is your best friend, and He is willing to sit with you and hold you through every illness and heartache if you will let Him. You need only trust Him. And if you have trouble trusting God, then pray the Surrender Novena. This novena has given many Christians peace in the midst of suffering, and it may just give you the peace you need.
What is a novena?
A novena is a prayer said over the course of nine consecutive days. Novenas are often prayed leading up to a feast day or holiday. But a novena can be prayed at any time. Novenas can also be prayed over the course of nine months, instead of nine days. If you are reading this between March 12 and December 12 of 2024, Cardinal Burke has asked Catholics to pray a nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for America.
Where does the Surrender Novena come from?
The Surrender Novena is believed to have come from Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo. The story is that Jesus Himself gave the novena to Fr. Dolindo.
Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970), a contemporary of St. Padre Pio, was a Neapolitan priest, known for his holiness. He had a special devotion to Our Lady, calling himself, “Mary’s little old man.” His name, Dolindo, means “pain” in Latin, and he underwent great suffering during his life. Before he was even a year old, he had surgery done to both of his hands and a tumor removed from his cheek. And as a boy, he would run and hide when his father came home because his father often beat him.
However, Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo saw the merit in suffering and even found joy in it because he new the true meaning of suffering. He prayed to God every morning for the gift of suffering. He was one of the privileged saints to receive the stigmata. And he was completely paralyzed his last ten years of life.
Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo is not beatified yet, but is venerated as a Servant of God. Countless miracles have been associated with his intercession, both before and after his death. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina even referred to him as a saint when some pilgrims traveled from Naples to visit Padre Pio. He said to them, “Why do you come here, when you have Fr. Dolindo in Naples? Go to him, he’s a saint!”
Is the Surrender Novena approved by the Catholic Church?
The Surrender Novena is not officially approved by the Catholic Church. However, this does not mean that Catholics cannot pray the Surrender Novena. It only means that they should take more caution in choosing to pray it.
Church approval basically means that the prayer is free from any doctrinal error. But there is a lot that goes into officially approving a prayer, and there are many other prayers and apparitions waiting for approval. The Surrender Novena may be approved in the future, along with Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo’s beatification, but it will take time.
What does it mean to surrender yourself to Jesus?
Surrendering yourself to Jesus ultimately means that you offer yourself to Him to do with as He wills. This takes great trust. And if you have trouble trusting in God, I suggest reading 10 Reasons to Trust God plus a Trust and Confidence Prayer.
Trusting God does not come easily. In the Bible God’s people forgot God time and time again, turning to idolatry and other great sins, instead of trusting in the Lord. But God never forgot them. And even though it may seem as though God is not listening to you sometimes, He never forgets you either. And when you choose to surrender yourself to Him, He can work great blessings in you and through you.
But surrendering yourself to God does not come without suffering. Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me,” (Matt 16:24). By telling his disciples to take up their cross, he assured them that the path to Heaven would include pain and suffering. And Jesus led by example, suffering greatly on the cross out of love for us. The point is not to avoid suffering, but to offer it up to God for the redemption of souls.
The Surrender Novena
Below is the Surrender Novena, believed to be given by Jesus Himself to Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo. This specific translation is copied from Catholic Exchange.
Day 1
Why do you confuse yourselves by worrying? Leave the care of your affairs to me and everything will be peaceful. I say to you in truth that every act of true, blind, complete surrender to me produces the effect that you desire and resolves all difficult situations.
Repeat 10 times: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Day 2
Surrender to me 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, “You take care of it.”
Repeat 10 times: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Day 3
How many things I do when the soul, in so much spiritual and material need, turns to me, looks at me and says to me, “You take care of it,” then closes its eyes and rests. In pain you pray for me to act, but that I act in the way you want. You do not turn to me, instead, you want me to adapt to your ideas. You are not sick people who ask the doctor to cure you, but rather sick people who tell the doctor how to. So do not act this way, but pray as I taught you in the Our Father: “Hallowed be thy Name,” that is, be glorified in my need. “Thy kingdom come,” that is, let all that is in us and in the world be in accord with your kingdom. “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven,” that is, in our need, decide as you see fit for our temporal and eternal life. If you say to me truly: “Thy will be done,” which is the same as saying: “You take care of it,” I will intervene with all my omnipotence, and I will resolve the most difficult situations.
Repeat 10 times: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Day 4
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.” 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.
Repeat 10 times: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Day 5
And when I must lead you on a path different from the one you see, I will prepare you; I will carry you in my arms; I will let you find yourself, like children who have fallen asleep in their mother’s arms, on the other bank of the river. What troubles you and hurts you immensely are your reason, your thoughts and worry, and your desire at all costs to deal with what afflicts you.
Repeat 10 times: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Day 6
You are sleepless; you want to judge everything, direct everything and see to everything and you surrender to human strength, or worse—to men themselves, trusting in their intervention—this is what hinders my words and my views. Oh, how much I wish from you this surrender, to help you; and how I suffer when I see you so agitated! Satan tries to do exactly this: to agitate you and to remove you from my protection and to throw you into the jaws of human initiative. So, trust only in me, rest in me, surrender to me in everything.
Repeat 10 times: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Day 7
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, not even among the saints. He does divine works whosoever surrenders to God. So don’t think about it any more, 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.
Repeat 10 times: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Day 8
Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away on the flowing current of my grace; close your eyes and do not think of the present, turning your thoughts away from the future just as you would from temptation. Repose in me, believing in my goodness, and I promise you by my love that if you say, “You take care of it,” I will take care of it all; I will console you, liberate you and guide you.
Repeat 10 times: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Day 9
Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive from it great peace and great rewards, even when I confer on you the grace of immolation, of repentance, and of love. Then what does suffering matter? It seems impossible to you? Close your eyes and say with all your soul, “Jesus, you take care of it.” Do not be afraid, I will take care of things and you will bless my name by humbling yourself. A thousand prayers cannot equal one single act of surrender, remember this well. There is no novena more effective than this.
Repeat 10 times: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!
Closing Prayer
Close the novena with this prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo.
Mother, I am yours now and forever. Through you and with you I always want to belong completely to Jesus.
Conclusion
If you are going through a difficult time right now and having trouble trusting in Jesus, pray this Surrender Novena. Pray it on repeat if you must! The times when I felt the most peace in my life, and felt the closest to the Holy Spirit, were always the times that I most perfectly surrendered my thoughts and actions to the Lord. But note that I said “most perfectly,” as I certainly am not a perfect person, and probably never will be this side of Heaven. All we can do is our best. But when we surrender ourselves to God, things sure do become a lot simpler!
Have you ever heard of Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo or the Surrender Novena? In the comments below, let me know what you think of the Surrender Novena and if it has ever helped you in your life.
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Because it has help me so many times when I have needed Jesus.
That is wonderful Mary!
This prayer saved me when I was suffering through a worst of a chronic sickness called Vestibular Migraines and I had to work a very busy time of the year when a coworker was off. I did not think I could do it but with Jesus’ help and surrendering to Him I made it. Always through Jesus and Mary!!
Thank you and God Bless you for your posts..
Thank you for sharing your personal story with the surrender novena. That does sound like a very trying time.
As my father suffered after an accident and progressed with age this prayer helped us through many days and nights. He is now resting in peace and I will continue to surrender with trust.
That is a wonderful story, Linda. May your father rest in peace.
What is the meaning of the “grace of immolation” in this prayer?
Immolation is basically the destruction of something as a sacrifice. For example, as tragic as it is, God permits the destruction of innocent lives every day. But since God always makes greater good out of every evil, immolation can be seen as a grace. Christ sacrificed Himself so that we might have eternal life! And we, as Christians, have the wonderful opportunity of uniting our pain and suffering to Christ’s ultimate sacrifice. The great saints recognized this and even welcomed suffering. For example, we use the word “privileged” to describe the saints who received the stigmata. So in this prayer, I would assume the “grace of immolation” to mean the destruction of some physical good for the greater glory of God. I hope that helps!
Thank you, Laura. I appreciate your explanation.
I find surrender to be simple in principle but extremely difficult to practice. I have read about Padre Pio, Mother Teresa, St. Faustina and St. Therese…all who suffered much and surrendered completely. Please pray for a breakthrough for me. God bless you and your family.
You are very welcome! And you are not alone. I will pray for you!
The surrender novena has helped me when I was so upset that I found it difficult to pray! The novena so touched on my reality that it brought me peace! I am bow praying it for two young wonen who were treated unjustly and deeply hurt! I am asking Jesus to supply His grace to help them and direct them according to His will!
That is beautiful Maggie! I will keep that in mind for when I find it difficult to pray too.
I began several months ago praying this novena as my perpetual novena. I pray each of day’s prayer, complete the novena, and begin it again. My greatest weakness, I believe, comes at times when I have medical testing and appointments as I have had some serious medical issues. I can become agitated, anxious, and full of worry. Surrendering everything is freeing. I pray for God’s grace to bring me to full surrender.
That is great Elizabeth! I am sorry to hear you are dealing with medical issues, but I am glad you have been able to find peace in the surrender novena.