Wonderful Counselor

"Wonderful Counselor" is one of the names given to the king to be of Israel as prophesied by Isaiah. This is of inseparable from other names like "Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6). It is quite an approriate name or characterization of the one who will govern a nation given the socio-historical context of the 8th century Israel. I have chosen for our Christmas meditation the title "Wonderful Counselor" for it captures what God's incarnation in Christ intends for humanity.

Guidance counselors or whatever kind of counselors we have in our community and society have special responsibilities as trained professionals. But one can be just an ordinary person who has skills in counseling and employ them to help others. There are special characterisitics in counseling that other people may not have due to their professional training. Let me reflect on these characteristics.

First, a counselor is one who is able to listen. Listening for a coounselor is not just hearing words and sentences. It is listening to the words and the meaning that flows out of a person's heart and mind. This includes verbal and non-verbal expressions or actions a person utters and shows which allow interpretion. More importantly listening has to do with understanding the deepest longing and hopes of what the person wants to become.

In the Gospel of Luke the angels announced to the shepherds the birth of Jesus saying "be not afraid, for behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy which will be to all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:11). The birth,life and ministry of Jesus shows us that he is a wonderful counselor because he lived like anyone of us in this world. Remember those moments he had with his disciples when he intently interacted with them and listened carefully to their hopes, aspirations as well as to their struggles and inner contradictions. He is even now our wonderful counselor who is alive in us and we can communicate with God through him.

Second, a counselor is able to intervene in our thoughts and behavior. Through psychotherapy a person may get healed through the intervention of the counselor. The counselor guides a client in overcoming oppressive thoughts or other distrubances that render the person unproductive. It is so with God in Jesus Christ, through the consistent devotion and reflection of God's word, we can be guided in our thoughts and actions. Individuals have their own perceptions of reality and at times these brings despair or hopelessness. God's intervention in our lives is through the Spirit of Christ that convinces us that life is larger than our jobs, our health, our families.

Third, the counselor exercises leadership as in the experience of one who is being led to a pasture--to peace and harmony. This leadership function enables a client to change behavior that will improve his or her relations with himself/herself and with other people. There are many great leaders in our world today who have good intentions to make life worthwhile, but many of them have been lost in fame, wealth and greed. They have lost touch with the very reasons of their leadership. God in Christ is our wonderful counselor because he is able to lead us to where we wanted to be and to what we may want to become.

Merry Christmas