The image of Mater Boni Consilii is the affectionate response to the perplexities and questions that afflict us. The Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel on April 26th.
Newsdesk (01/05/2023 16:55, Gaudium Press) The fresco of the Madonna del Buon Consiglio is a “pilgrim” image, full of imponderables, whose most remote origin is lost in mystery. It is known to have been in Scutari, Albania, for more than seven centuries prior to its migration to Genazzano, near Rome, in 1467.
What is its true origin? Which ingenious artist painted it? Was it the fruit of human talent alone or was there also an angelic contribution? Did it come from a supernatural inspiration, an apparition of the Mother of God? Is the enigmatic embroidery on the collar of the Child Jesus a mere ornament, or do we read there some word in an unknown language concerning His mission?
These are some of the questions that arise in the mind of a devout observer when he considers the richness of detail in the fresco, reflected in the bearing, gestures or clothing of its august personages.
Yet nothing attracts more attention than the celestial convivium between Mother and Son portrayed therein: “In a gesture of intense affection, overflowing with love, He wraps His right hand around the noble and delicate neck of His Mother, while with the left He vigorously holds the upper part of Her dress, as if to say: ‘You are all mine!’ So categorical is this touching and divine embrace that His right eye seems to stray slightly from its normal alignment due to His emphatic manner of pressing His cheeks against that of His Most Holy Mother.
“Without failing to express in anything the physiognomy proper to a child, the Divine Infant does not, however, denote the slightest superficiality, so characteristic of that phase of life. On the contrary, like an ocean of seriousness, all the depth and breadth of His understanding, all the strength of His will, all the elevation and nobility of His sentiments shine forth in Him. And He has the highest consciousness of what His Mother represents, of the interior paradise that She offers Him. […]
By his attitude, the Child God seems to say to each one: ‘If you want something from Me, ask it through my Mother and you will be answered.’ The picture of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano could well be emblazoned with the words ‘The Universal Mediation of Mary’, for the humanized God Himself wished to find protection and support in the virginal arms of His Blessed Mother.[1]
Our Lady’s head is resting lightly on the Child’s head, as if to indicate the total union – one might almost say unity – existing between them, which is expressed above all by the exchange of glances.
And how they look at each other! It seems to be one and the same gaze! We have the impression that She is confiding in us: “My child, the Most High has placed wonders in me, never imagined by the Angels and Saints of Heaven. For this reason, there are mysteries of God that the blessed spirits only come to know by penetrating my gaze. And there are mysteries that they will only understand by contemplating this exchange of gazes between Mother and Son”.
Of the countless images or paintings depicting the Blessed Virgin with the Divine Infant in Her arms, none lets this union shine so clearly as the fresco of Genazzano. There is something in the scene that seems to suggest to those who look at it enraptured: “If you want to know the Child, you must see Him in Her eyes; similarly, to know Her completely, you must see Her in his eyes”.
No man can enter into this exchange of glances unless he allows himself to be attracted by the sacred and divine intimacy existing between Mother and Son. There are so many wonders contained therein that eternity will be insufficient to unravel its secrets! As daily experience shows, the natural relationship between a mother and her child contains unfathomable aspects. When the mother knows and loves her child completely, and the child responds to her love by trusting and abandoning himself into her hands, an indissoluble bond is created between the two by which words become dispensable. Another, much richer type of communication is then established, that which takes place through gazes. A glance is enough and everything is said!
This natural phenomenon occurs in a similar way, and to a supereminent degree, in the supernatural sphere. The Mother of the Incarnate Word, the Blessed Virgin is also the Mother of all men (cf. Jn 19:26-27). By virtue of this mission conferred on Her by the Redeemer at the height of His Passion, She knows and loves each one of us more profoundly than all the mothers in the universe, put together, could know and love a single child.
And when any one of her children seeks Her, Her Immaculate Heart almost bursts into tenderness, affection and maternal affection, echoing to a lesser extent what happens in Her relationship with Her Divine Son. It is precisely this overflowing of love and affection that is experienced every time one looks at the image of Mater Boni Consilii.
What joy, what support and what spiritual sustenance one receives from Her.
Msgr João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, EP
Text taken, with minor adaptations, from the book Mary Most Holy! The Paradise of God revealed to men, v.1.
[1] CLÁ DIAS, João. Mãe do Bom Conselho. p.26-29.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
