From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Out of sight, out of mind   
      
      Christ is gone away; he is not seen; we never saw him, we only read   
   and hear of him. It is an old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind." Be   
   sure, so it will be, so it must be with us, as regards our blessed   
   Savior, unless we make continual efforts all through the day to think   
   of him, his love, his precepts, his gifts, and his promises. We must   
   recall to mind what we read in the gospels and in holy books about   
   him; we must bring before us what we have heard in church; we must   
   pray God to enable us to do so, to bless the doing so, and to make us   
   do so in a simple-minded, sincere, and reverential spirit. In a word,   
   we must meditate, for all this is meditation; and this even the most   
   unlearned person can do, and will do, if he has a will to do it.   
   -- Bl. John Henry Newman   
      
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   April 26 Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel   
   Also known as  La Madonna del Paradiso,  Madonna del Buon Consiglio   
      
   Memorial   
      
       26 April   
       25 April at Genazzano   
      
   In Genazzano, Italy--a small town about 25 miles outside of Rome-- the   
   Church of the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel had fallen into disrepair.   
   In the 15th century, a pious widow and tertiary of the Augustinian   
   Order, Petruccia Noteria, undertook the monumental task of restoring   
   the church following a vision from the Blessed Virgin. She implored   
   her neighbors to help her with the task, but instead, they scoffed and   
   jeered, accusing her of madness at her advanced age, and mocking her   
   alleged holiness. Petruccia was not to be deterred, however, and   
   committed all of her resources to the repairs of the church. She was   
   not deterred by the derision of her friends and neighbors, instead   
   saying to them, “My dear children, do not put too much importance on   
   this apparent misfortune. I assure you that before my death the   
   Blessed Virgin and our holy father Augustine will finish the church   
   begun by me.”   
      
   On April 25, 1467, the entire town would have their eyes opened. It   
   was traditional to celebrate the feast of Saint Mark, the patron saint   
   of the city, with a fair in the city’s town center--where the   
   partially restored Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel stood. During   
   the festival, a luminous white cloud drifted over the village, with   
   heavenly music seeming to emanate from within it. The cloud, which   
   drew quite a bit of attention, drifted over the church, enveloping it.   
   The church bells began to ring of their own accord, echoed by the   
   bells of every other church in town. When the cloud lifted, a fresco   
   of the Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus appeared, miraculously hanging in   
   the air. The townspeople were moved by the miracle, crying out to   
   their Mother of Good Counsel.   
      
   Following the miraculous apparition, the people rallied around   
   Petruccia, and the church was finished quite quickly. A chapel was   
   built to house the fresco, which continues--to this day--to hang   
   suspended in the air, approximately 1 inch from the wall of the   
   church. So many miracles were recorded--including healings--that Rome   
   dispatched a registrar to record them. Nearly 175 miracles were   
   recorded in the first 5 months. Pope Paul II immediately ordered an   
   investigation, and the results have been preserved. The same fresco   
   was discovered to have miraculously appeared in a church dedicated to   
   the Annunciation in Scutari, Albania centuries before, but due to   
   Petruccia’s faith, was miraculously transported to Italy.   
      
   The fresco--painted on a thin sheet of porcelain approximately the   
   thickness of an eggshell--became known as Our Lady of Good Counsel of   
   Genazzano. To this day, pilgrims flock to see the image, which despite   
   the church being bombed during the second world war (and the chapel   
   within which it was housed destroyed) miraculously escaped unscathed.   
      
   Our Lady of Good Counsel has been approved by the Vatican, and many   
   popes throughout history have been especially devoted to her. She is   
   the patron saint of those seeking enlightenment.  Her miraculous   
   intercession reminds us that the love of Our Blessed Mother is   
   perfect, her virtue knows no bounds, and her constant heavenly   
   intercession for each of us is a gift not to be taking for granted.   
   Pray for us, Our Lady of Good Counsel!  Intercede for us with Jesus,   
   Our Lord!   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace,   
   how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides   
   within itself, how many joys and delights! No one would complain about   
   his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come   
   to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed   
   to men.   
   -- Saint Rose of Lim   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    Therefore, you kings, be wise;   
   be warned, you rulers of the earth.   
   11 Serve the LORD with fear   
   and rejoice with trembling. (Psalm 2:10-11)   
      
      
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   Prayer of Our Lady of Good Counsel:   
      
   O Holy Virgin, to whose feet we are lead by our anxious uncertainty in   
   our search for and attainment of what is true and good, invoking thee   
   by the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel. We beseech Thee to come   
   to our assistance, when, along the road of this life, the darkness of   
   error and of evil conspires towards our ruin by leading our minds and   
   our hearts astray.   
      
   Do Thou, O Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, enlighten the doubtful   
   and the erring, that they be not seduced by the false appearances of   
   good; render them steadfast in the race of the hostile and corrupting   
   influences of passion and of sin. O Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for   
   us from Thy Divine Son a great love of virtue, and, in the hour of   
   uncertainty and trial, the strength to embrace the way that leads to   
   our salvation.   
      
   If Thy hand sustains us, we shall walk unmolested along the path   
   indicated to us by the life and words of Jesus our Redeemer, and   
   having followed freely and securely, even in the midst of this world's   
   strife, the Sun of Truth and Justice under Thy maternal star, we shall   
   come to the enjoyment of full and eternal peace with Thee in the haven   
   of salvation. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)