Counsel is the only one of the seven gifts that is distinguished with the adjective good. This is because, in fact, bad counsels do exist…
Newsroom (April 26, 2022, 3:35 PM, Gaudium Press) The Holy Trinity could be compared to a council, that is, to the harmony of Divine Persons who contemplate, live, and act toward the supreme end. Being intimately diffusive, the Supreme Good wanted to expand His goodness to the maximum and sent to the world His own Son, the “Wonderful Counselor” (Is 9:5), to assume our humanity and raise it to divinity. For this, he made use of another council, the Holy Family, the earthly “trinity” and absolute model of human society.
Jesus also wanted to constitute a council for Himself. Initially formed by twelve Apostles, these, under the impetus of the Paraclete, later led a multitude of souls to the bosom of the Church, expanding it throughout the world.
The word counsel, by extension of meaning, also denotes a precious gift of the Holy Spirit, who leads the soul in grace to judge particular cases discerning the supernatural end. It was by such a gift that Noah accomplished all that God had commanded him (cf. Gen. 7:5), Abraham obeyed without understanding (cf. Heb. 11:8), and Moses heard the voice from on high and echoed it to the people.
After Christ’s Ascension, the manifold divine grace continued to enlighten countless holy shepherds who shepherded the Lord’s flock. Among them are the founders, such as Benedict of Norcia, Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola…
However, the greatest guide of the faithful people was Our Lady. Not only for her participation in the Incarnation of mankind, but also for her constant interventions in the hands of history, whether through popular devotion, through apparitions, as in Lourdes and Fatima, or even miracles, such as those performed around the icon of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano.
After the appearance of this fresco in Italy, the Admirable Councillor soon worked a feat of prodigies. Later the Sovereign Queen, under the same invocation, won two outstanding victories that saved the West from Ottoman usurpation: at Lepanto, under the scepter of Admiral John of Austria, and at Vienna, under the scepter of the King of Poland, John Sobieski. In both cases, the commanders, imbued with the gift of counsel, received the same acclamation: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John” (Jn 1:6)!
Counsel is the only one of the seven gifts that is distinguished with the adjective good. This is because, in fact, bad counsels do exist… Through them, treachery, corruption, and tyrannies that have shaken the world have proliferated. It is enough to remember the serpent’s suggestion in Paradise, passing through the Pharisees’ insidiousness against Jesus, until arriving at the persecutions of the Church, which still today spread their plots. To this end, the devil and his minions set up not councils, but conciliatories, like the infamous one that got together to crucify the Messiah.
Finally, faced with such a panorama, the Admirable Counselor could give good advice to these wicked persecutors: “Do not touch my children! As in the past, I continue to raise up Saints and heroes who, under my patronage, will always win!” If not directly, surely She will intervene through other “Johns”….
Text taken from the magazine Heralds of the Gospel n. 232, April 2021.
Compiled by Sarah Gangl
