I answer that, Counsel is properly about things useful for an end. Hence such things as are of most use for an end, should above all correspond to the gift of counsel. Therefore the beatitude of mercy specially corresponds to the gift of counsel, not as eliciting but as directing mercy. Although counsel directs in all the acts of virtue, it does so in a special way in works of mercy, for the reason given above. Counsel considered as a gift of the Holy Ghost guides us in all matters that are directed to the end of eternal life whether they be necessary for salvation or not, and yet not every work of mercy is necessary for salvation.
Fruit denotes something ultimate.
Now the ultimate in practical matters consists not in knowledge but in an action which is the end. Hence nothing pertaining to practical knowledge is numbered among the fruits, but only such things as pertain to action, in which practical knowledge is the guide. This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College. Last updated on August 12, 2000.