Pray with Us: The Surrender Prayer

by Amanda MacMurtrie

Most of us have a rough idea of what surrender looks like. We know what a surrender prayer “should” sound like. Especially in this season of Lent, we know we ought to “offer it up”. The surrender prayer of St. Ignatius beautifully encompasses giving everything to God: Take, Lord, and receive my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and call my own.…

This is a beautiful prayer that helps us give all back to our Creator.

But do we also know that in surrendering, we are also meant to receive?

When we surrender, God gives us all the grace we could possibly need. We begin to realize, His grace is enough. His embrace is enough. In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus shows us a real and raw image of what surrender looks like. We might be familiar with this story, but through art, we get to feel like we are in the moment with the lost son and the father who has awaited his return.

Notice how the son completely abandons himself – therefore completely receiving the Father:

Before we introduce the Surrender Novena, let’s spend some time with this image as a Lenten reflection. Where are you in your journey?

Where are you in this image?

Perhaps you are feeling far from the father, without the strength to return to his embrace… 

Maybe you are on the road back to him with fragile but fervent hope that the father’s house is getting near..

Nestled in the father’s arms, confiding and confessing it all to him...

How are you feeling moved to respond?

Meditating on the Prodigal Son’s return can lead us into a tender place. Let’s return to a surrender prayer that we can pray over the course of nine days in the form of a Novena. Jesus gave Servant of God Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo words of love in response to his desire to surrender. These prayers perfectly express what the Father says to the child in His embrace.

As you pray, stand firm in the truth that your Father is receiving your surrender. May your prayer be rich and freeing.

The Surrender Novena

by Father Dolindo Ruotolo

Each day comprises of two brief parts:

• Reading the words of Jesus to Fr. Dolindo
• Repeating 10 times the Surrender Prayer: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!

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.

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 consequence of anything. 

It is like the confusion that children feel when they ask their mother to see 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.

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 your ideas. You are not sick people who ask 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.

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.

Day 5

And then 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. 

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. 

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 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.

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. 

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. 

Commitment to Prayer

How are you doing with surrender these days? Do you find yourself in desperate need of control? Struggling with humility? Maybe in joy and trust? Sometimes, a surrender prayer is “easier said than done”. Especially in intense seasons of difficulty, we might find it easier to throw up our hands and fling out an earnest and beautiful: “Jesus, you take it!“

By entering into either the Ignatian Surrender Prayer or Fr. Dolindo’s Surrender Novena, we are putting ourselves before the Lord with abandon. We are given the opportunity to truly receive the embrace of the Father. I encourage you to jot down this prayer or screenshot it. Memorize it. Let the grace of God seep into your words, into your breath, and into every crevice of your heart.

Sometimes, it’s the little things…

that remind us to turn our hearts to reflection or offer a surrender prayer.

For a limited time, you can order a set of your own mini prayer cards with the image of the Prodigal Son being embraced by the Father. These cards have Kate’s painting, Coming Home on the front, and Scripture and prayer by Pope Francis on the back.

With all the beautiful symbolism and details of the original canvas, these are prayer-card size, which means they are perfect to slip in your Bible pages, put on a mirror, or pin to a car visor. They’re also ideal to mail out to your loved ones who need to that reminder of the Father’s love. Check them out here!

If you found this experience fruitful and want to dig into this image even further, you might like this vulnerable Visio Divina reflection written by Heather Khym from Abiding Together.