“The decades of the rosary are like the belt of a machine gun: every bead is a shot every affection of the soul is as an explosion of faith that frightens off Satan, and Mary once more crushes his head.” (Dolindo Ruotolo).
I have found great comfort in praying the “Surrender Novena” over the last few years since I have come across the words of this great prayer…
I recently came across the story fo the Servant of God who received this prayer from Christ Himself…
Father Dolindo Ruotolo was a priest born in 1882 and who died in 1970. As a contemporary of Saint Padre Pio, the Saint was aware of Servant of God Dolindo, and once said that “The whole of Paradise is in your (Dolindo’s) soul”. The name Dolindo means “pain”, and this Servant of God experienced as spiritual martyrdom throughout his life. He called himself the “Madonna’s little old man” and was devoted to reciting the Rosary.
Dolindo received the stigmata and performed miracles during his life. He was called a “mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit”.
Dolindo used his suffering as an opportunity to surrender to God like a little child. He said, “I am totally poor, a poor nothing. My strength is my prayer, my leader is the will of God which I let take me by the hand. My security over the uneven path is the heavenly mother Mary.”
Dolindo wrote, “The decades of the rosary are like the belt of a machine gun: every bead is a shot every affection of the soul is as an explosion of faith that frightens off Satan, and Mary once more crushes his head.”
And I have been reflecting on this act of surrender. You see, it is completed counter-intuitive to our earthly lives to surrender to the Holy Will of God.
I mean, Christ and the Blessed Virgin surrendered to the Holy Will of God. And when they did that they did so perfectly. And their perfect surrender meant that they suffered and they suffered terrible agony. Christ – after all – died on the Cross and His Blessed Mother witnessed that.
And so, true surrender meant not defending Themselves or shielding Themselves from the pain. Instead They leaned into the pain that was allowed for Them. They not only accepted that pain, but They embraced it and understood it as the Will of the Father. There was no resistance. There was no fear. There was only perfect surrender to the Will of the Father.
And when I think about that today, I bow my head in shame. For it seems that I have never surrendered to my Lord and God – I have been too busy trying to argue my way out of the pain.
And today, that just does not seem good enough…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.