Mater Boni Consilii
 
 

CONTENTS:

In the Alban Hills, not far from the city of Rome, lies the little town of Genazzano, where the miraculous image of Our Lady of Good Counsel is venerated. The story of the picture dates back to 1467. Pilgrims assembled on the feast of St. Mark were startled by a mysterious rustling sound and strains of sweet music. Looking toward the sky, they beheld what seemed a soft cloud. Slowly it descended and rested in front of the unfinished wall of the church dedicated to the Mother of God under the title of Good Counsel. The picture rests suspended in the air without any visible means of support to maintain its stable condition, and this for five centuries! Although painted on a piece of plaster no thicker than an ordinary visiting card, the image has withstood the ravages of time. The artist of the painting is unknown.

It is said that the figures themselves represent Mother and Child after they had returned from the temple where Mary heard the sad prophesies of Simeon. Mary's eyes are half-veiled as though she were lost in contemplation, taking counsel with her God. The little Child does not return the gaze of the beholder, as happens in so many pictures, rather He draws our eyes upward to Mary as if to tell us to look for Counsel there, in the very Seat of Wisdom. It is a picture to be loved, a plain and common picture [hence our unframed treatment], a pious image to be copied and hung in the homes of the poor. That is all the sweet Mother of Good Counsel asks for her picture: a home in our midst, by our firesides, a family to guard and watch over, hearts that will love and venerate her.

Overshadowed by the Holy Ghost, Mary became the Mother of God. His gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, and Counsel belong to her. She is Our Mother of Good Counsel because she is the Spouse of God the Holy Ghost. If to her was granted the wisdom to counsel her Son, surely she has the wisdom to counsel poor humanity. In her there is the wisdom of ages. For 2000 years, she has been watching the children of men upon this earth. Our Lady of Good Counsel knows how to help us. She can help us. She wants to aid and counsel us! Once she sees upon a soul the sign of the Cross of her Son, that soul may count upon all her assistance. She loves with an undying love all those for whom her Son died.

God trusted her with His own Son, Who clung to her till life was done. Through sorrow none can comprehend She mothered Jesus to the end. And if you think her love may fail, You thrust
within her heart a nail!

Our Mother of Good Counsel has been called the Madonna of the Popes. Pope Leo XIII deserves to be ranked among the great lovers of this devotion. He established the white scapular worn by her servants, and his motto is like a watchword to the clients of Mary: "Children," he told the faithful, "follow her counsels!" To all she gives what is most needed to help us in this vale of tears; she gives us her Good Counsel.

Pope Pius II, in his papal address to the College of Cardinals on Sept. 23, 1463, stated:
"They say we live for pleasure . . . and there is some truth in their words, many among the Cardinals and other officials do live this kind of life. We must enter new paths-----temperance,  chastity, innocence, zeal for the Faith, ardor in the cause of religion, contempt for death, and the desire for Martyrdom have exalted the Roman Church and made her mistress of the world. It is not enough to profess the Faith, to preach to the people, to denounce vice, and to extol virtue. We must make ourselves like those who have sacrificed their very lives for the heritage of the Lord."
 

"THE FISH STINKS FROM THE HEAD DOWNWARDS"

What an acknowledgment of truth! Thereafter came all the great revolutions that devastated Christendom! Little by little the Cross of Jesus Christ was set aside. Our sins separated us from God. It was not merely some souls that fell away, but decadence became the sin
of society as a whole.

"The conflict between the good and the wicked, has seldom, if ever, been so acute as it is today. As we look upon the world, we are overcome with grief and anguish as we perceive the iniquity of the unrighteous reach a degree of impiety that is totally incredible, and without parallel. Proud neglect and disdain of Divine things is the most pernicious of all evils, and at present is spread almost all over the world like a virulent disease. It deprives man of God and thereby robs him of his spiritual dignity, making him the ignoble tool of materialism, and utterly destroys all traces of virtue, love, hope, and beauty within his soul. We speak of atheism, or rather, hatred of God. Whoever is strong in faith and rich in the treasures of a religious life, should share these goods, as far as possible, to defend the name of God."

------Pope Pius XII, 1949

And what might we not say of our own day! The acceptance of a humanistic, relativistic philosophy prepares the soul well for an explicit PROFESSION OF ATHEISM.

Clearly, "ecumenism" has an excellent meaning in itself, but used to unite all religions
into a body of relative "truths" makes us wide open for sympathy and union with error. To imagine that we can be one with those whose entire ambition is to destroy all religion -----IMPOSSIBLE! The wiles and stratagems of Communism [its ideas are not dead, but have been resurrected ever more strongly in the one-world religion-government ideology] are developed now to a point of perfection. Ah, how it apes Lucifer himself in its cunning for deceit and lies! We must never forget we are at war. The enemy plays for keeps. Special sacrifices must be made, special duties must be performed, and, for now, graves must be dug for what we feel we simply "cannot do without"-----and a silent funeral held for self-love.

"THE WORLD WILL BE SAVED BY REPARATION!"

------Blessed Pope Pius IX

"Now; more than ever before; the hour has come for REPARATION!"

------Pope Pius XII

 If love be true, it must labor; where labor is refused, there is no love.

-----St. Thomas Aquinas

Whenever a crisis looms over the horizon, trying, like a black cloud, to darken the Church beneath its shadow, God sends His punishment, tempered with mercy. That mercy without limits has a name: MARY!!!

Pray for us, O Mother of Good Counsel in this century of confusion as atheistic materialism, spreads its tentacles over the entire free world!

Prayer to Our Lady of Good Counsel

Most Glorious Virgin, chosen by the Eternal Counsel to be the Mother of the Eternal Word made flesh, thou who art the treasurer of Divine graces, and the advocate of sinners, I, thy most unworthy servant, have recourse to thee; be thou pleased to be my guide and counselor in this vale of tears.

Obtain for me through the Most Precious Blood of thy Divine Son, the forgiveness of my sins, the salvation of my soul, and the means necessary to obtain it.

In like manner, obtain for Holy Mother the Church victory over her enemies, and the spread of the kingdom of Jesus Christ upon the whole earth. Amen.

Imprimatur:  + Patrick A. O'Boyle

Glory be to the Father, Who hath created me. Glory be to the Son, Who hath redeemed me. Glory be to the Holy Ghost, Who hath sanctified me. Blessed be the holy and undivided Trinity, now and forever. Amen.

"Remember, Christian soul, that thou hast this day a duty:
God to Glorify, Eternity to Prepare for,
Jesus to Imitate, The Angels and Saints to invoke;
Your Soul to Save, Your Body to Mortify,
Sins to Expiate, Virtues to Acquire,
Hell to avoid, Heaven to Gain,
Time to Profit by, Your neighbors to Edify,
The World to Despise, Devils to Combat,
Passions to Subdue, Death Perhaps to Encounter,
and Judgment to Undergo."

The sacrifice Our Lord asks of you is the Sacrifice of Daily Duty . . .
 

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