News From Home

November 2026

By Sister M. Anselma

Dear Families and Friends!

This past week, the leadership team of Mother of Good Counsel Home spent two days offsite for reflection, growth and planning purposes. It was a blessed time and the Lord was leading us in a beautiful way!

One topic of discussion was around an assessment we each took called StrengthsFinder by Gallup. Nick, our Director of Operations, is certified by Gallup as a StrengthsFinder coach so we were well guided in this opportunity.

The concept behind StrengthsFinder has always fascinated me. The idea goes much deeper than simply identifying things we are good at, such as “I’m good with data,” or “I’m good at convincing people.” It helps reveal the natural patterns of how we think, feel, and behave, and how we instinctively process the world around us. It also connects with the science of brain development. From conception through the first few years of life, our brains undergo an extraordinary period of growth and development. Billions of neurons form connections with one another through synapses.

 As we grow and experience the world, some of these connections are strengthened while others are gradually pruned away. Our genetics, environment, and early experiences all play a role in shaping these neural pathways. God’s providence has brought together all of the details and influences that make each of our lives completely unique from anyone else. Psalm 139 says, “For you formed my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

Through their research, Gallup has identified 34 recurring talent themes that describe different patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Taking the StrengthsFinder assessment can feel a little like looking in a mirror. Many people read their top five strengths and find it uncanny how accurately they are described. As people are reading their reports, I often hear giggles of recognition or exclamations like, “oh, that’s me!”

The empowering message of this exercise is this: Recognize and build on your strengths rather than spending all your energy trying to fix your weaknesses. It is likely that your greatest success and satisfaction in life is going to come through allowing your natural pathways to guide how you encounter everything that comes your way.

This exercise provided a wonderful space for us as a team to understand ourselves, appreciate each other, and reflect on how the blend of our unique strengths helps us get the important work of our Mission done. What a blessing!

Yesterday was the Solemnity of All Saints and it invited me to take this reflection one step further. While we spent the past two days seeking to become the best leaders we can be, if we truly want to fulfill God’s mission for us, we will also seek to become Saints!

As we seek to know who God is and practice the virtues that help us to be more like Him, He will have the space in our lives to use the natural gifts and talents He has given us for His purposes! Think of St. Teresa of Calcutta… she knew God’s love deeply in her own life and went into the streets to care for the poorest of the poor with His love. She could have remained quietly hidden in that work for the rest of her life, but God used her humble service, and that of her Sisters, to become a shining example to the world of how deeply He loves each of His children!

Each Saint has helped us see who God is through who they allowed themselves to become. This is not something we can forge through our own efforts alone. But our openness to God’s grace, and our growing union with Him through prayer and the practice of virtue, give Him the space to work in our lives as He desires!

May we not only develop our strengths for God’s purposes, but also learn through His grace to give ourselves away in Mission!

In His Merciful Heart,

Sister M. Anselma
Administrator

By Fr. Nick Muenks

During our recent leadership team retreat, we took time to consider what the Heart of Jesus can teach us about our service to others. In particular, we reflected on this line from the Gospel according to John, which describes an event following the death of Jesus: “When they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out” (John 19:33-34).

It is through the shedding of his blood that Jesus redeemed the world. It is because of love that Jesus consented to shed his blood. And, although Jesus received so many wounds during his passion, it means something that the wound which opened his heart and poured his heart’s blood out directly, was received only after his death. It shows that, even after his earthly life was ended, the ministry of Jesus was not.

By some measures Jesus accomplished little during his time on earth. In three years of ministry, he worked countless miracles, but reaped a slender harvest. Few truly understood who he was, and most of those who did understand lost heart and fled when he was rejected by the Jerusalem authorities and handed over to the Romans to be executed. At the Last Supper, Jesus applied this prophecy to himself: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Mark 14:7). It was after he was no longer with his disciples that his efforts for them bore fruit. St. Luke describes their final conversation in this way: Jesus told them, “you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight” (Acts 1: 8-9). How is it that the same disciples, who Jesus himself had described, only six weeks before, as confused, lost sheep, would become so effective the moment he was taken away from them?

The answer is that Jesus was not finished ministering to his disciples. The Letter to the Hebrews describes Jesus’s ministry as the fulfillment of the ministry of the Old Testament priests. Those priests sacrificed sheep, lambs, goats, and calves in atonement for sin. On certain days, the blood was brought into the temple (or into the tabernacle, which was used before the temple was constructed) to be sprinkled in the holy place. It says in Hebrews, “When Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11-12). Unlike the Old Testament priests, Jesus does not travel a few paces, from the altar into the holy building. No, he first sacrifices himself on earth—that is, on the cross—and then ascends to heaven which is the true temple, the true dwelling of God. And he does not come into the presence of God his Father with the blood of an animal, but with his own blood. This blood, which Jesus willingly shed, and which flowed from his wounded body and his pierced heart, has brought us forgiveness and reconciliation with God. This is how Christ achieved redemption for us.

The Letter to the Hebrews goes farther. It informs us that Jesus is not finished. “For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24). The word “now” deserves emphasis. The Letter to the Hebrews was written decades after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, yet the author says the Jesus appears before the Father “now.” This is not the only place where Jesus’s continuing ministry is mentioned. Again, it says in Hebrews, “[Christ], because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away. Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25). The resurrection of Jesus does not only mean that Jesus lives forever; it also means that Jesus is forever interceding for us. We are always carried in his heart, which was pieced for love of us; and his blood, which flowed from his pierced heart is always before the eyes of God the Father. Paul asks, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). It is through that intercession, which Jesus makes for the church, through the infinite value of his heart’s blood, that the disciples flourished after they saw Jesus no more. God’s work on their behalf was so much greater than what could be seen by them!

We need to believe that it is not only through Jesus that God works invisibly. He can do so through us as well. We who are Christians have been brought into a spiritual union with Jesus Christ. The Bible calls us members of His Body, which is the church (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 10, 12; Ephesians 4). In writing to the Galatians, Paul goes even farther, saying that “all of you who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). The Christian is not only redeemed, but once redeemed, is united to Jesus Christ in a way that can hardly be conceived of, but which is certainly real. It is because of this union that Jesus can say to his disciples, “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do still greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). Now that Jesus has gone to the Father, his love for his own has borne fruit in ways that his disciples could not have predicted. Because we have put on Christ, and are members of His Body, we should believe that the love in our own hearts also has power.

We should not think that the love we have for those God has given us is confined to what we are able to do for them, practically. When we have done all that we are able to do for someone, God is still at work. Who knows what we may learn in heaven, about what God has done for someone because we allowed them into our heart, treated them with love, longed for their salvation and begged God to bless them. If the love of the human heart of the Son of God continues to save the world today, long after his death and resurrection, we should also have faith that God does something real with the love of a heart which is united to the heart of Jesus.

Fr. Nick Muenks

Chaplain

Annual Appeal!

By Sister M. Luka

Dear Mission Supporters,

Thank you for all that you do to support our Home and care for our residents! I am so grateful!!

It is now time for our Annual Appeal. This appeal allows us to complete ongoing capital projects, continue formation for our Mission Partners, and provide a forever home to our residents.

Please prayerfully consider a gift to the 2026 Annual Appeal! Click here to donate today.

God bless you!

Sister M. Luka

Mission Support Coordinator