From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Wonderful Effect of Divine Love (VII)   
      
   Whoever is not prepared to endure everything, and to stand firmly by   
   the will of the Beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover   
   must willingly accept every hardship and bitterness for the sake of   
   his Beloved, and must never desert Him because of adversity.   
   --Thomas à Kempis ---Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 5   
      
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   July 3rd - St. Thomas the Apostle   
      
   St. Thomas was ordered by Our Lord to go to India, which he did in the   
   company of Abbanes, a provost of one of the kings of India who had   
   come to Caesarea looking for an architect. After dealing with this   
   King and building a palace for him, not on earth, but in Heaven by   
   giving his treasure to the poor, and after converting multitudes in   
   India through his innumerable miracles, Thomas headed to Upper India.   
      
   There he converted Queen Migdonia and her sister to the Catholic   
   Faith. From then on, they refused to lie with their pagan husbands.   
   The King became furious and ordered that Thomas be brought before him,   
   his hands and his feet bound. He was commanded to reconcile the wives   
   to their husband. But Apostle answered the King saying that he could   
   not do this so long as he professed a false faith.   
      
   Irate, the King commanded that pieces of burning iron be brought forth   
   and that the Apostle should stand on them in his bare feet. And   
   immediately, by the will of Our Lord, a spring of water sprang up and   
   quenched the iron.   
      
   Next, the King, following the counsel of his brother-in-law Carisius,   
   had him thrown into a fiery furnace, but miraculously it was made so   
   cold that the next day he issued out all safe, without harm.   
      
   Then Carisius said to the King: “Command him to sacrifice to the god   
   of the sun. That will bring down on him the wrath of his God, who so   
   far has been protecting him.” They tried to force Thomas to do this,   
   but the Apostle responded that the devil was in the idol, and that God   
   would break it to pieces the moment he would approach it. And so it   
   happened.   
      
   After that miracle, the high priest killed St. Thomas piercing him   
   through with a sword. The King and Carisius did not convert, but fled   
   away, for they saw that the people would avenge the Apostle.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   Our Lord said that the Apostles would work more and even greater   
   miracles than He Himself did: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that   
   believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater   
   works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John   
   14:12). Why did He say this? What principle is behind these words?   
      
   It is not easy to respond with precision to this question, but among   
   many answers, there is one worthy of attention.   
      
   A person who saw Our Lord Jesus Christ and heard the words that issued   
   from His divine mouth already experienced a kind of special miracle,   
   which was to see with his own eyes the Incarnate God. Our Lord’s   
   presence was so supernatural, so divine, so out of proportion to any   
   human measure that for a man of faith, nothing else would be necessary   
   to believe in His divinity. His presence was more than any miracle   
   imaginable.   
      
   For this reason He censured those who were asking for miracles. He   
   addressed them as a “faithless and perverse generation” who only   
   believe when they see miracles. Thus, it is a blessing to believe   
   without miracles. St. Thomas also received a similar criticism from   
   Our Lord: “Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed.   
   Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed” (John 20:29).   
      
   This selection mentions some of St. Thomas’ astonishing miracles in   
   India. He worked one miracle after another, but still the King did not   
   convert. His mind was made up and he did not want to believe. In the   
   end, he remained an unbeliever and allowed his high priest to kill St.   
   Thomas. One miracle, two miracles, many miracles were not enough for   
   him. When he was defeated by the evidence of the miracles, he became   
   an accomplice to the murder of St. Thomas.   
      
   This mentality is shared by those who are not satisfied with normal   
   graces, but are always asking for miracles. In appearance, they are   
   thirsty for miracles, but at depth they are too lazy to open their   
   souls to grace. If God would give a miracle, it would not satisfy   
   them. They would become more hardened, and even reject the saint who   
   worked the miracle. They share in some way the psychology of the pagan   
   King.   
      
   This leads us to consider the depth of human wickedness. Man stained   
   by original sin and excessively complacent with his actual sins has a   
   strong tendency to close his soul to grace, even to miracles. Often   
   nothing but very exceptional graces can touch a soul like this.   
      
   Another symptom of such hardness is when a person, like the King in   
   India, is subject to superstitions. I knew a person with a great   
   vocation who came to our fight for the Church but never had a true   
   generosity toward Our Lady. He ended by going astray. He was a   
   superstitious man, always carrying an amulet that he believed had   
   occult powers. I don’t think his defection was caused by the malefic   
   power of the amulet. I think that by relying on magical powers he   
   rejected the grace and disregarded the rich supernatural help the   
   Church places at our disposition.   
      
   A point also worthy of consideration is the attitude of St. Thomas   
   regarding his previous infidelity. He was unfaithful when he doubted   
   the Resurrection of Our Lord. He was chastised for that: he was the   
   only Apostle who was not present at the death of Our Lady. He arrived   
   late, when Our Lady was already starting her Assumption in the air.   
   With a marvelous manifestation of her tenderness for him, she took off   
   her girdle and let it fall for him. He was chastised, but at the same   
   time she inundated him with her tenderness.   
      
   St. Thomas converted because of her sweetness as well as Our Lord’s   
   severity and became a truly penitent soul. What is a truly penitent   
   soul?   
      
   It is one who committed a bad action, but with shame and sadness   
   repents of the evil he did and, when the occasion presents itself he   
   takes advantage of it to admit his bad action. He is happy to   
   humiliate himself in public and accuse himself of the evil that he   
   committed. He hates his sin and wants others to hate it also. This is   
   the profile of the truly penitent soul. Regarding sins of purity, this   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)