Yet, I have noticed how Polish immigrants to Canada have worries imprinted deep in their hearts and minds, having suffered a rollercoaster in their lives, leaving Poland, going to an unknown territory, struggling to survive, fighting to live day after day, trying to make ends meet and to reach for stars... I take off my hat to all of them I have already met in Montreal. Listening to their stories and sharing their worries and joys is such a unique lesson in patriotism and in art of survival in foreign countries...
I feel respect, admiration and compassion for them... And I would like to share with all of my wonderful hosts here in Montreal this particular meditation, coming out of the writings of Father Dolindo Ruotolo, Capuchin Friar. I have been alerted to his writings by a friend of mine, just recently, and this particular prayer I share with you in this post, has been influential on my understanding of my own life, worries, struggles of recent times...
I do hope and pray to Jesus, through the intercession of Padre Dolindo, that each and every one of you may accept this meditation/prayer as your personal gift for the benefit of your own spirituality and daily life, which has never been easy, and in particular in our modern times with all uncertainties hitting all of us hard...
With all my love, respect, admiration, gratitude and compassion I feel for all your worries and struggles here in Montreal, Canada at large and indeed - in the whole world - this is a gem of spirituality. May it help all of you and make you rely completely on Jesus.
I don’t want to worry, my God: I put my faith in you!
Jesus speaks to our souls: “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.
Surrendering 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. 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..’ 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 they try to take care of those needs for themselves, so that their childlike efforts get in their mother’s way.
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.
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 their mother’s arms, on the other bank of the river. What troubles you and hurts you immensely are your reason, your thoughts, and your worry, and your desire at all costs to deal with what afflicts you.”
In spiritual and material needs…
“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. So few graces have you have when you strive so much to create them; and yet you have so many when your prayer is full trust in me. In pain you pray for me to act, but that I act in the away 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 of my omnipotence, and I will resolve the most difficult situations. 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. I take care of things only when you close your eyes.
Unable to sleep, we want to judge everything, direct everything, having faith only in men. You are sleepless; you want to judge everything, direct everything and see to everything, and your 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 do 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. 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! If you have your resources, as little as they may be, or if you look for them, you are in the natural world, and you follow the natural progress of things, which is often hindered by Satan. No person of reason, no thinker, has ever performed miracles, not even among the Saints. He does divine works whosoever surrenders to God.”
When instead we confide in God…
“When you see things become more complicated, say then with the eyes of the soul closed: ‘Jesus, take care of it’. And 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. By my love, I promise this to you. And I will take care of things. I promise this to you. 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 of 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:
Oh Jesus, I surrender to you, you take care of it.”
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