The Surrender Novena

Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo’s life (1882-1970) turns on a single sentence: “O Jesus, I surrender to You, take care of everything." That was the mantra of a Neapolitan priest who, as a mystic; spent decades misunderstood, investigated and heroically faithful to his beloved Christ.

• Born in Naples in 1882, Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo grew up in poverty, illness, and instability. His father’s harshness shaped a childhood marked by suffering, which push Dolindo’s heart into the heart of Jesus. He entered the seminary young, was ordained at 23 and was known for his asceticism, charity and mystical interior prayer.
• His life was not easy. Due to his closeness with Jesus, he endured multiple investigations by Church authorities, long periods of silence, and misunderstandings about his journaling. Yet he never turned bitter. Instead, he dug deeper into the Divine.

Fr. Dolindo’s spirituality centered on radical surrender—not resignation. It was a confident abandonment to God’s love. He wrote thousands of pages on Scripture, letters of spiritual direction and prayers from his interior union with Christ. One of his most famous lines came from a mystical dialogue he recorded with Jesus:

“When you see things going wrong, say to Me: Jesus, you take over.”

This became the heart of his Surrender Novena, a prayer that invites believers to release anxiety, control and fear; and trust God’s working in their lives instead.

The Birth of the Surrender Novena

A novena emerged from Fr. Dolindo’s spiritual conversations with Jesus, written in the 1930s. It is structured around 9-reflections in which Christ speaks directly to souls, urging trust over self-reliance. Each day ends with the same refrain: “O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything.”

• To keep track the novena day, begin on a date that ends with one: 1, 11 or 21.
• Consider adding it to our daily prayer regime and repeat it year-round.
• Take the day off on the 10th, 20th, 30th and 31 and start again.

Day One — Jesus asks the soul to stop worrying and trust His action.

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. “O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!” (10 times)

Day Two — Jesus promises that surrender allows Him to work miracles.

Surrender to me does not mean to fret, to be upset, or to lose hope. Nor does it mean offering 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, be nervous and 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.” O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)

Day Three — Anxiety blocks grace; trust opens the way.

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 close 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. O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)

Day Four — Jesus invites the soul to rest in Him rather than in its own plans.

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. O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)

Day Five — Jesus assures that He works even when all seems lost.

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. O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)

Day Six — Jesus asks for confidence in His timing.

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. O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)

Day Seven — Jesus reminds the soul that worry is useless and surrender is powerful.

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 anymore, because you 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! (10 times)

Day Eight — Jesus promises peace to the surrendered heart.

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. O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)

Day Nine — Jesus invites total abandonment and assures His loving care.

Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive great peace and 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. O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)

Each day ends with the refrain: "O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything."

Prayer of Surrender

Take this heart, O Lord of peace; the one that clings to fear and fight.
Teach it how to yield release, to walk by faith and not by sight.

When storms arise and shadows fall, and every path seems dark and long,
Tell me softly through it all: “Let go, My love is forever strong.”

So here I place: my hopes, my days, my hidden wounds, my deepest plea.
O Jesus, guide my stumbling ways, and in Your mercy, carry me.

Resources

Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. (2025). Surrender Novena.

Catholic Answers (no date). Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo and surrender spirituality.

Catholic News Agency. (2020). Biography and writings of Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo.

EWTN (no date). The Surrender Novena: Background and commentary.

Ruotolo, D (1930s). Spiritual writings and letters. Naples: Private manuscripts.

Vatican (no date). Cause for canonization of Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo.