with such glory and such joy, filling with heavenly gifts men who were living in retirement in obedience to Thy command!
O holy and beloved Apostle Thomas, would that thou hadst been present at this time and hadst been found with thy fellow-Apostles when Jesus came and said, " Peace be unto you " ! But perhaps some need or other obliged thee to go out. Would that thou hadst come back in good time, and hadst heard and seen with the rest all that Jesus said and did! How good would it have been for thee, and for the assurance of thy faith.
But who has known Thy mind, O Lord? Or who has been Thy counsellor that Thou camest suddenly at a time when Thomas was not there, or perhaps had gone out and stayed away longer than he meant ? Why, O good Jesus, didst Thou act thus; why didst Thou not wait a little for Thomas to come back? Why, O loving Jesus, didst Thou not say: " Where is Thomas; where is he who was so earnest in saying to his fellow disciples: ' Let us also go, that we may die with Him'?" " O holy God, why didst Thou not send for him to come quickly and see Thee ? Had I been there, and hadst Thou permitted, how willingly would I have gone to fetch him ! Did not Samuel the prophet send to call David from the sheepfolds to come and be anointed King in the presence of his brethren ?
But I know of a truth, and I believe, that Thou, O Lord, Who in Thy wisdom didst create the heavens and the earth, didst permit all this for wise and good reasons. Nothing upon earth is done without cause, though many there are who understand not Thy workings. It was not by chance that Thomas was absent, when Thou
