Letters

Prayer to Our Lady of Good Counsel (letter)

Marie E. Curtin

Contents - Jun 2003 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Three Feasts: Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity - Peter Westmore Liturgy: John Paul's new encyclical on the Eucharist targets liturgical abuses - Michael Gilchrist AD2000 staff members awarded federation Centenary Medals - AD2000 News: The Church Around the World - AD2000 Interview: Vatican II and the liturgy, 40 years later - Zenit News Service Events: Corpus Christi Procession - Brisbane, 22 June 2003 The environment: rediscovering the balanced Catholic perspective - Michael Casanova Laity: The role of lay Catholics in a time of crisis - Mary Ann Glendon Those dreadful old Catholic hymns? - Fr Fabian Duggan OSB The seal of confession: how a priest put his life on the line - Clem Lack Letters: Eucharistic encyclical and the priesthood (letter) - John Kelly Letters: Requirements fulfilled (letter) - John Young Letters: Four conditions (letter) - Fr G.H. Duggan SM Letters: Holy Orders (letter) - Francis Vrijmoed Letters: Brisbane Synod (letter) - Alistair Barros Letters: Catechetics (letter) Letters: Teilhard de Chardin (letter) - Grahame Fallon Letters: Latin Mass (letter) - Philip Robinson Letters: Death by 'nice blokes' (letter) - Lisa-Maree Letters: Abortion (letter) - Betty Griffin Letters: Prayer to Our Lady of Good Counsel (letter) - Marie E. Curtin Books: Culture and the Thomist Tradition : After Vatican II, by Tracey Rowland - Fr Peter Joseph STD (reviewer) Books: From Physics to Metaphysics, by Fr Francis J. Selman - Michael Casanova Books: The Story of Christianity : 2000 Years of Faith - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: Family in the Bible, edited by Richard H. Hess and M. Danial Carroll - Bill Muehlenberg (reviewer) Books: Our books are the cheapest! Reflection: Church scandals: focus on the message, not just the messengers - Fr Kevin Brannelly

In the April issue of AD2000, Robert Anderson asked for prayers to Our Lady of Good Counsel. I found this one in verse on a very old holy picture in an old prayer book which belonged to my mother-in-law who became a Catholic almost 100 years ago:

Virgin Mother, Lady of Good Counsel,
Sweetest Patron mortal ever knew:
In all my doubts I fly to thee for guidance,
Mother, tell me, what am I to do?

Life, alas, is often dark and dreary,
Cheating shadows hide the truth from view.
When my soul is most perplexed and weary.
Mother, tell me, what am I to do?

Stir my heart while gazing on thy features
With the old, old story, ever new:-
How our God has loved His sinful creatures:
Then, dear Mother, show me what to do.

Plead my cause, for what can He refuse thee,
Get me back His saving grace anew.
Ah! I know thou dost not wish to lose me,
Mother, tell me, what am I to do?

Be, of all my friends, the best and dearest.
O, my counsellor, sincere and true,
Let thy voiced sound always sound first and clearest,
Mother, tell me, what am I to do?

In thy guidance tranquilly reposing,
Now I face my toils and cares anew:
All through life, and at its awful closing,
Mother, tell me, what am I to do?

MARIE E. CURTIN
Cleveland, Qld

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 16 No 5 (June 2003), p. 16