0

I came across the "Novena of Abandonment" prayer, first via a friend, then saw it on many blogs online etc, for example here: Jesus, You take over and the Rosary of Abandonment. It reads like a very soothing and reassuring prayer, directly quoting Jesus' words.

What I am trying to establish is, what is the provenance of this prayer? Mostly I find it on blogs, not any kind of authoritative websites. The prayer is ascribed to Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo, but I cannot find any information on how it came to be. The prayer is not quoting the scriptures, and rather reads like direct quotations from a private revelation - is there any authoritative source that describes this? The link above quotes an Imprimatur, but I couldn't check it online.

Does anyone know of any more authoritative confirmation of provenance for this prayer? My fundamental reason for asking is, since it appears to be direct quotations of Jesus, I don't want to, so to speak, be putting words in His mouth. The prayer makes strong assertions of Jesus' will, and it doesn't feel right to pray with such assertions without having confidence that it really comes from Jesus. For example, "There is no better novena than this".

Improve this question
6
  • The content of this 'prayer' is not scriptural. It is an expression of someone's opinion.
    – Nigel J
    Jan 24, 2021 at 16:58
  • Right, but it’s an opinion quoting directly Jesus. Is there any evidence that it isn’t just someone’s (possibly well intended) fantasy? For example, Sr Faustina’s prayer appears to come from a well-documented and recognised revelation.
    – Bennet
    Jan 24, 2021 at 19:37
  • The prayer does not 'quote Jesus'. The prayer does not express either the tenor or the content of Jesus' known, documented words.
    – Nigel J
    Jan 24, 2021 at 20:27
  • Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo was a Roman Catholic priest and mystic. Padre Pio spoke highly of him. Without doubt these quotes come from his own personal private revelations. The process of beatification has already been opened!
    – Ken Graham ♦
    Jan 24, 2021 at 22:12
  • @NigelJ some quotes from the prayer include "I will intervene with all my omnipotence, and I will resolve the most difficult situations." This is clearly not the writer speaking, but implying that these are words of Jesus. It is the credibility of such an attribution I'm asking about. Of course nothing matches the credibility of Biblical text. So, once under that bar, where does it sit? In particular, what evidence is there that it is, as per your words, any more or less than an opinion?
    – Bennet
    Jan 28, 2021 at 15:16

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

Novena of Abandonment is definitely from the mystic written works of Father Dolindo Ruotolo.

Unfortunately, his works are no yet completely known in the English world to know which works we need to deal with.

Father Dolindo Ruotolo

These instructions comes to us through contemporary scholar-mystic, Father Don Dolindo Ruotolo, a Neapolitan priest (1882-1970), stigmatized miracle worker and "mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit".

Father Ruotolo had extraordinary communications with Jesus throughout his heroic life, a life that was totally devoted to God and Holy Mother Mary. He referred to himself as "the Madonna's little old man" and the Rosary was his constant companion.

While the writing may be that of Father Ruotolo the words are unmistakably from Jesus.

It is Jesus teaching us how to find peace and happiness in these uncertain and anxious times.

Jesus tell us what he wants from us and how in turn he "swears on his love" he will care for us spiritually and materially.

As you can see much of what our Lord wants flies in the face of normal human inclination and reason. We can only rise to this level of thinking through the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit.

We must let go of our problems, stop thinking about them and trying to resolve them ourselves. We must believe, trust and allow our Lord to rescue us from ourselves and supply our wants, needs and resolve our problems as only He can.

According to Saint Faustina, a Roman Catholic nun and mystic from Poland (1905 - 1938). We give Jesus pleasure when we give Him our troubles. Jesus speaking - " You will give Me pleasure if you hand over to Me all your troubles and griefs. I shall heap upon you the treasures of My grace."

Therefore, Jesus, I abandon myself to you, you take over, should be the first words that come to mind and flows from our lips. After all, we have tried to do things our way and look where it has gotten us.

Just do as the instructions from Jesus say, open our hearts and minds in love and close our eyes in trust and ask Jesus to take care of it and as he promises, He absolutely will.

Some of Father Ruotolo’s writings were published in 1949 in the book Come Holy Spirit, which combines theology with meditations to deepen the presence of the Holy Spirit in souls. It has become a classic in Italy as an explanation of the role of the Holy Spirit as bestowed in Confirmation. Your source of information may be contained within this book.

Jesus said there is no better novena than this one, and it has only 11 words

Ordained at the age of 23, Don Dolindo spent his life in prayer, sacrifice and service. He heard confession, gave spiritual guidance and cared for those in need. Don Dolindo was a contemporary of the more widely known saint, Padre Pio. When some pilgrims from Naples, where Don Dolindo resided, went to Padre Pio in Pietrelcina, Padre Pio responded: “Why do you come here, if you have Don Dolindo in Naples? Go to him, he’s a saint!”

Don Dolindo wrote what Our Lord revealed to him about divine abandonment from the perspective of Jesus addressing the soul. The prayer of surrender can be read in its entirety, or prayed in nine shorter segments as a daily novena.

Interesting is also to note that Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo may have been the initial inspiration of Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary that Pope John Paul II added to the Most Holy Rosary in 2002!

Improve this answer
2
  • Thank you for this detailed answer, I will definitely look up this book.
    – Bennet
    Jan 28, 2021 at 15:07
  • Considering that the prayer, "Our Father" comes from the bible, therefore Fr. Dolindo's Surrender Novena must be biblical. On Day 3 of the Novena, it says (supposedly the words of Jesus):
    – Margarita
    Jun 8 at 21:09
0

Considering that the prayer, "Our Father" comes from the bible, therefore Fr. Dolindo's Surrender Novena must be biblical.

For example, on Day 3 of the Novena, it says (supposedly the words of Jesus): "...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."

Admittedly, I've never thought "Hallowed be thy name" to mean, "be glorified in my need", and that, to me, is a revelation.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .