This Lent, Give Up … Yourself!

Sometimes—make that often!—it is so difficult to come to grips with the fact that we aren’t in control—that we can’t control our circumstances, what others do, what happens in our families, what happens in our world.

The Servant of God Don Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970) was a holy Italian priest, devoted to the rosary, who received revelations from Jesus, including the following:

“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 .…

“A thousand prayers do not equal one act of abandonment; don’t ever forget it. There is no better novena than this: O Jesus, I abandon myself to you. Jesus, you take over .”

Herein lies the antidote to our need to be in control: surrendering our lives, our will, to Jesus. The all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, all-merciful God cares more about us than we could ever imagine. He can see the big picture, how all the events of our lives work together to bring about our growth in holiness. Let us repeat often, whenever we start to fret and worry about something big or small, “O Jesus, I abandon myself to you. Jesus, you take over.”