Sunday:       Our Lady of Good Counsel
Date:         April 26, 2002
Year:         A
The readings: [Acts 13:26-33; Jn. 14:1-6]
The message:  How can we know the way?
Prepared by:  CATHOLIC DOORS MINISTRY
Total words:  1225

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, we are commemorating the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel. Who is Our Lady of Good Counsel? What is the origin of this Marian Feast? In summary, this special title was given to the miraculous picture of the Madonna at Genazzano, Italy. In recognition for the financial help received from the people of Genazzano who helped to renovate the Church of Saint Mary Major in Rome, Pope Sixtus III (432-440 A.D.) gave them some land. On this land, the people built a Church and called it Our Lady of Good Counsel. Upon its completion, the Church was entrusted to the Augustinian Order.

In April, 1467, an Albanian icon of Our Lady of Shkodra (Good Counsel) mysteriously appeared in the Church. The painting of Mary and the Christ Child, a fresco on an eggshell thin layer of plaster, appeared to be floating about 2.5 cm from the wall. Since then, endless healings and miracles have been attributed to the powerful intervention of Our Lady of Good Counsel. In 1727, Pope Benedict XIII instituted the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel. Following this, Pope Leo XIII added the title "Mother of Good Counsel" to the Litany of Loreto. Nowadays, Our Lady of Good Counsel is the patron of many women's groups, especially the Catholic Women's League in Canada and the Christian Mothers of America.

The endless healings and miracles that have been attributed to the powerful intervention of Our Lady of Good Counsel once more affirms that "Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. 'This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death.'" [LG § 57] (C.C.C. # 964)

As the words of Jesus were accompanied by many "mighty works and wonders and signs" [Acts 2:22; Lk 7:18-23] to manifest that the Kingdom was present in Him, (C.C.C. # 547) the endless healings and miracles attributed to Our Lady of Good Counsel affirm that the fruit of her work have been divinely commissioned for the glory of the Lord Jesus. For if Our Lady had not been personally commissioned by God Himself, the abundance of Divine graces would not have flourished through her.

While heavenly signs do not save anyone, they invite belief in Jesus. [Jn 5:36; 10:25, 38] They strengthen the faith of the believers in the One who does His Father's works. (C.C.C. # 548) Through Mary, the faithful are guided to Jesus, the one and only means of salvation.

During today's Gospel Reading, [Jn. 14:1-6] Thomas asked the Lord, "How can we know the way?" [Jn. 14:5] Jesus answered, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." [Jn. 14:6] Jesus is the "one Mediator between God and humankind," [1 Tim. 2:5]

To believe in YAHWEH or God the Father while rejecting Jesus is to reject the true God of the Catholic faith. Such a god is not the God of the Catholic faith. For "in Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell bodily." [Col. 1:19, 2:9] In Jesus dwelled the fullness of the Blessed Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. When asked to show the Father, Jesus said to Philip, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father." [Jn. 14:9]

To ask Jesus to show us His Father is like you asking me to show you my soul. Whoever has seen me has seen my soul. On the subject of the Divine Soul, in 431 A.D., the Council Of Ephesus, in its Third letter of Cyril to Nestorius, affirmed that although "it is also said that in Christ dwelt 'all the fullness of the godhead bodily', we understand that, having become flesh, the manner of his indwelling is not defined in the same way as he is said to dwell among the saints, he was united by nature and not turned into flesh and he made his indwelling in such a way as we may say that the soul of man does in his own body."

God the Father made His indwelling in Jesus in such a way as we may say that the soul of man does in his own body. When Jesus said, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father" [Jn. 14:9] such was no different than when I say, "Whoever has seen me has seen my soul." As the formless human soul cannot be seen in the physical world by the human eye, the eternal and formless Divine Soul of God, existing before all creations, cannot be seen in the physical world by the human eye unless God chooses to manifest Himself in bodily form, having done so through His incarnation in Jesus Christ.

Knowing this, the grace of God draws us to the one truth, that Jesus Christ is the way and life of all those who believes in Him by abiding in His teachings that have been handed down through the apostolic succession of His Church, beginning with Saint Peter.

The Lord may use many means to draw us to Him. One such way is through the Blessed Virgin Mary, namely Our Lady of Good Counsel that is being celebrated today. As a result of the endless signs that have been manifested through Mary throughout the centuries, we are drawn towards her. Consequently, we learn that Mary was and continues to be a humble and obedience servant of the Lord. Naturally, our conclusion can only be that if we wish to be blessed by the Lord Jesus, we too must give our "Fiat." We too must be humble and obedient in servitude.

And then there are the saints. Some are drawn to particular saints, be it St. Theresa, St. Joseph, St. John Bosco, St. Jude or any of the others that have been canonized by the Church. Again, none of us can be saved by petitioning the saints. All of them, as models of holiness, they point the finger towards Jesus. Their lives, their humility, their obedience and their servitude all point towards a daily personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. Without Jesus, we are nothing. With Jesus, we are everything. We have hope! And hope does not let us down. "It is a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul." [Heb. 6:19]

Finally, God uses other tools to draw us to Him. He uses the Church, its teachings, its dogmas, its tradition, the Holy Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Encyclicals, even the Catholic Encyclopedia, all abounding in spiritual wealth that can enrich the soul. And let us not forget the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops, the priests and even our brothers and sisters in Christ who may be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

While all these means are sources of Divine graces, the greatest of all is the humble person of Our Lady. Immaculate in nature, as the New Eve she is the most favoured of God, being full of grace. Let us be thankful to God for having blessed Our Lady with another title under which she may be known. Let us be thankful to God for the many wonders that He has manifested through Our Lady of Good Counsel for His glory, now and forever.

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The readings...

[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]

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First Reading...

"When Paul and his companion reached Antioch, they went to the synagogue. Paul was invited to address the people, so he stood up and began to speak.

'My brothers, you descendants of Abraham's family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. Because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus or understand the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath, they fulfilled those words by condemning him. Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to have him killed. When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead; and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you.''" [Acts 13:26-33]

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Gospel Reading...

"Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. During the supper he said to his disciples: 'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.'

Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" [Jn. 14:1-6]

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