This Lent, Give Up Control
A Lenten practice that could make a real difference in your life
As Catholics, we’re always encouraged to give something up during the Lenten season from Ash Wednesday (this year, February 22) to Easter.
I’ve given up—or tried to give up, with varying success—chocolate, cookies, TV, social media, coffee, even gossip and complaining.
In recent years, I changed my modus operandi and, rather than giving something up, added something: extra prayers and devotions, getting up earlier, attending Mass daily, going to confession weekly, and so forth.
But today, I saw a video by Ascension Press that instantly intrigued me: Franciscan friar Fr. Mary Martin talking about “giving up control for Lent.”
What he means by “giving up control” is handing over our sufferings to God, things that are taken away from us, problems we have to deal with.
As one way of doing this, he suggests praying the Angelus three times a day—typically, this is done at 6:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 6:00 PM, but can be adjusted according to your schedule.
It does make sense because one of the responses in the Angelus is Mary’s affirmation, “Be it done unto me according to your Word.”
As an alternative (or addition) to the Angelus, here’s one of my personal favorites: The Surrender Novena, a nine-day prayer that was dictated by Jesus himself to Don Dolindo Ruotolo, the spiritual director of St. Padre Pio.
Each day consists of a reading and a prayer. I find the readings so special because Jesus speaks in the first person. For example, Day 1 goes like this:
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.
Then you say 10X: “O Jesus, I surrender myself to you. Take care of everything.”
That’s it. Super-simple and incredibly powerful.
And you don’t have to stop when the nine days are up; just start over again.
TIP: If you want to get the full “Jesus Experience,” download the Hallow app on your phone and find the Surrender Novena. It’s being narrated by Jonathan Roumie (who plays Jesus in The Chosen), so you really feel like Jesus is talking to you in person.
Personally, I’m a bit of a control freak and a perfectionist to boot, so praying the Surrender Novena—and then also abiding by what I said—always feels like a big challenge to me.
Then again, isn’t it usually the challenging things that bring the greatest spiritual rewards and the greatest growth towards union with God?
What’s so amazing about this is that Jesus knows exactly how we feel and how tough this is for us.
On Day 2 of the novena, he says:
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.”
How great is our God?!