Leaders of the Church daily have to make judgments for practical matters of the faith. And it is not always clear to discern according to the will of the Lord. As we heard in the first reading from the Acts, the first Jewish Christians did not understand how the Gentile can receive God’s grace. Thus, when Peter had been with the Gentile Christians, the Jewish Christians criticized Peter, the first chief shepherd of all the faithful. Now, Peter needed to explain how and why the Gentile received the grace of the faith. But his explanation had to be of the divine origin. And Peter shared his vision while he was praying in the city of Joppa. This vision shows an example of how the Holy Spirit endows divine knowledge and empowers with the right judgments. With the divine knowledge and counsel, the chief shepherd of the Church teaches and admonishes the Jewish Christians. And they recognized the authentic teaching and rejoiced and praised the Lord.

Today the Church commemorates Our Lady of the Good Counsel. As a person full of grace, Our Lady loves to give good counsels to our priests, our shepherds of the Church. Since the Our Lady of the Good Counsel devotion developed from the 15th century, starting at a small Italian town called Genazzano, many popes visited the place and prayed before her image in the church of Genazzano. Those popes asked her for good counsels to make judgments for the Lord’s people. But anybody, who oversees the wellbeing of any, should ask for the gift of good counsel. Parents, teachers, lay leaders of the Church should speak to Our Lady for their right judgments. Surely Our Blessed Mother will help us receive the gift of the counsel and give us good advice for difficulties.