An Invincible Faith in Jesus

 

First published May 31st, 2017.

HOLLYWOOD has been overrun with a glut of super hero movies. There is practically one in theatres, somewhere, almost constantly now. Perhaps it speaks of something deep within the psyche of this generation, an era in which true heroes are now few and far between; a reflection of a world longing for real greatness, if not, a real Savior…

 

CALL TO HEROIC FAITH

While your faith in Christ and to His teachings, right now, might seem to bother others; while they might dismiss you, for now, as a fundamentalist, a “right-winger”, or fanatic… the day is coming when your faith in God will be an anchor to possibly thousands around you. Hence, Our Lady continually calls you and me to prayer and conversion so that we will become the spiritual “super-heroes” the world so desperately needs. Don’t miss this call!

This is why the Father is permitting so many sufferings within the Church, our families and life situations: He is showing us that we must have an invincible faith in Jesus. He is going to strip the Church of everything so that we will have nothing but Him.^[1]cf. The Prophecy at Rome There is a Great Shaking coming, and when it does, the world will be searching for true superheroes: men and women who have real answers to hopeless crises. False prophets will be ready for them… but so will Our Lady, who is preparing an army of men and women to gather the prodigal sons and daughters of this generation before the Day of Justice. ^[2]see The Great Liberation

If the Lord has not lifted the heavy cross from your shoulders yet; if He has not delivered you from your helpless situation; if you find yourself struggling with the same faults and stumbling into the same sins… it is because you have not learned to fully surrender yet, to truly abandon yourself to Him.

 

LEARNING ABANDONMENT

Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo (d. 1970) is a relatively unknown prophet in our times. Of him, St. Pio once said “The whole of paradise is in your soul.” In fact, in a postcard to Bishop Huilica in 1965, Fr. Dolindo predicted that “a new John will rise out of Poland with heroic steps to break the chains beyond the boundaries imposed by the communist tyranny.” That, of course, was fulfilled in Pope John Paul II. 

But perhaps Fr. Dolindo’s greatest legacy was the Novena of Abandonment that he left the Church in which Jesus unfolds how to abandon to Him. If St. Faustina’s revelations guide us on how to trust in Divine Mercy, and Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta’s revelations instruct on how to live in the Divine Will, Fr. Dolindo’s revelations teach us how to abandon ourselves to Divine Providence. 

Jesus begins by saying to him:

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.

So, most of us read this, and then say, “Okay, please fix this situation for me so that…” But as soon as we begin to dictate to the Lord the outcome, we are not truly trusting Him to act in our best interests. 

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 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”.

Jesus then asks us to say a little prayer:

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!

How hard this is! The human mind, like metal to a magnet, is powerfully drawn to thinking, reasoning, and obsessing over our problems. But Jesus says, no, let Me take care of it. 

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 to cure you, but rather sick people who tell the doctor how to… 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.

And yet, we hear these words, and then reason that our particular situation is beyond supernatural repair. But Jesus calls us to “fold the wings of the intellect”, as Catherine Doherty would say, and let Him act in the situation. Tell me: if God created the heavens and earth out of nothing, can He not handle your particular trial, even as things appear to go from bad to worse?

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 there is no medicine more powerful than My loving intervention. By My love, I promise this to you.

But how hard it is to trust! To not grasp after the solution, to not try in my own humanity to resolve things myself, to not manipulate things to my own outcome. True abandonment means completely and utterly leaving the results to God, who promises to be faithful.

No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

But the “way” is not always our way.

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.

And that is when we begin again to grasp, to lose patience, to feel that God is not doing what He should. We lose our peace… and Satan begins to win the battle. 

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.

And so, we must let go again, and cry out from our souls: O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! And He says…

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 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.

How Jesus? How do I stop thinking about it?

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.

Yes, it is an act of the will. We have to resist, to fight it, and resist again and again. But we are not alone, nor without Divine help, which comes to us by way of prayer. 

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.

To pray the nine day Novena, click here. 

 

AN INVINCIBLE FAITH

Learn, my brothers and sisters, the “art of abandonment,” demonstrated most especially in Our Lady. She reveals to us how to surrender to the Father’s Will, in every situation, even the impossible—including what is happening now in the world.^[3]cf. Luke 1:34, 38 Paradoxically, her abandonment to God, which annihilates her own self-will, does not lead to sadness or a loss of dignity, but to joy, peace, and a deeper awareness of her true self, made in God’s image.

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior… (Luke 1:46-47)

Indeed, is her Magnificat not a praise of God’s mercy toward the humble—and how He humbles those who wish to be rulers of their own destinies, who out of arrogance of mind and pride in the heart, refuse to trust in Him?

His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. (Luke 1:50-53)

That is, He lifts up those with an invincible faith in Jesus. 

Oh, how pleasing to God is the soul that follows faithfully the inspirations of His grace!… Fear nothing. Be faithful to the end. —Our Lady to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 635

 

Mother, I am yours now and forever.
Through you and with you
I always want to belong
completely to Jesus.

  

You are loved.

 

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