Day 9: Make surrender a habit

On the ninth and final day of the Surrender Novena, the meditation moves from the particular crisis to the lifelong disposition. Don Dolindo's last word is that the surrender practiced over these nine days is meant to become the habitual disposition of the soul, the form of life proper to the Christian.

Today's meditation

"Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive from this novena the great peace. Even when you find a closed door, even when in your difficulty you do not see the light, do not stop praying with surrender. Continue. The grace I have given you will not be lost. I will give you the peace that comes from My promise. Now and forever, surrender to Me."

The word always is the key to today's meditation. The novena is nine days, but the disposition the novena teaches is for life. Don Dolindo's final word is not and now you may resume your worry but now make surrender the air your soul breathes.

The act of surrender

Today, for the last time in this novena, name the situation you brought to Jesus on Day 1. Notice how it has changed in your soul over the nine days, even if the outward circumstance has not yet resolved. Then pray slowly, ten times:

O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything.

When you have finished the tenth repetition, give thanks. Whatever the Lord chooses to do externally, He has been doing the deeper work within these nine days, and that work is real.

Reflection

The Catholic spiritual tradition has always understood that the great novenas are not magic. They do not bind God to give what was asked. They are means of grace by which the soul comes more deeply into communion with the will of the Father, and in that communion the soul is itself transformed. "Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

The peace Don Dolindo promises is the peace Saint Paul names in the same Letter to the Philippians where he commanded "have no anxiety about anything": "the peace of God, which passes all understanding" (Phil 4:7). It is a peace that is given, not engineered. It does not depend on the resolution of the outward matter, because it has its source in the heart of Christ Himself, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

The novena has been completed today. But the disposition has only just begun. Many of the great Catholic spiritual writers, when describing the habitus of surrender, recommend that the refrain itself be retained as a daily prayer. O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything. The brief sentence is short enough to be prayed at any moment, before any difficult conversation, in any moment of small or large anxiety, before sleep, on waking. It can be the soul's continuous response to the difficulties of life.

You may also pray this novena again. The classical Catholic practice is to repeat a novena either for the same intention (when the matter is grave and the resolution slow) or for a new intention. Many Catholics pray the Surrender Novena three times in succession (a triduum of novenas, twenty-seven days). Others pray it once a year on or near a significant anniversary.

Closing prayers

Conclude with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be, then the Marian closing of the novena:

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

For the broader theology of trust and the Catholic practice of novenas, return to the Surrender Novena overview or explore other novenas through the novenas hub.

Don Dolindo's last word stands. Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive the great peace.