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Padre Pio: “The whole of paradise is in your soul.”

Updated: Nov 17, 2022


[Photo: St. Padre Pio with Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo]



FR DOLINDO RUOTOLO

A Prophet of our Time



Father [Don] Dolindo Ruotolo was 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.

As you can see from this novena [the Surrender Novena] 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 worrying 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.

Jesus, You take care of it, 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 got us.

Just do as the prayer says, open our hearts and minds in love and close our eyes in trust and ask Jesus to take care of it. He will.

On November 19, 1970 Don (Fr) Dolindo Ruotolo died at the age of 88. Padre Pio once said of this priest from Naples, Italy: “The whole of paradise is in your soul.” His name “Dolindo” means “Pain” and his life was rich with this pain. As a child, a teenager, a seminarian and a priest, he experienced humiliation, which was the realization of the prophetic words of a bishop who said You will be a martyr, but in your heart, not with your blood.

In his profound humility, he was able to hear the words of God. Even with his hidden life he was one of the greatest prophets of the last century. He wrote to Bishop Hnilica in 1965 that a new John will rise out of Poland with heroic steps to break the chains beyond the boundaries imposed by the communist tyranny. On this postcard, he wrote words of consolation for Poland and all the countries suffering under the communist regime. This prophecy was realized in the papacy of John Paul II.

In his tremendous suffering, Dolindo became more and more a child who lived his self-offering to the Divine Father. 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.

One of the treasures from the words which Jesus spoke to Dolindo was the teaching about total abandonment to God. In this novena [the Surrender Novena], Jesus is talking to Don Dolindo and also to you.

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