Because, My child, I love faith and it is by faith that I intend men to know Me. I do enlighten "every man that cometh into this world" (St. John I. 9), that is I give to each sufficient light to save his soul, to one more, to another less, and I shall judge according to the light I have given; but what I want from all is co-operation, I want their faith, I want them to believe, not because they can see and understand, but because by means of My grace in their hearts and especially by means of the revelation given to My Church I enlighten their minds. Yes, the Sun has risen with health in His Wings, and gradually He will increase in strength till the "uttermost parts of the earth" respond to His light. It is a work of time just as it is a work of time in each individual soul. The soul does not see clearly as soon as the light enters; there is a period when men seem like trees walking (St. Mark VIII. 24); but if only it will respond and hold on by faith, the time will come when it will see all things clearly. O Orient, come and enlighten those that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death with the light of faith. It is faith that is needed on the earth, it is faith that is needed in each individual soul. It is faith that I need, more faith, more confidence in Thy dealings. Many shadows are still cast on my soul by sin--even a wilful imperfection casts a shadow. Oh What need I have of Thee, O Orient from on high, to come and visit me and chase away the shadows of the night! "Till the day break and the shadows retire" (Cant. II. 17, IV. 6). POINT II. ST. THOMAS. It is a coincidence, if not something more, that puts the antiphon _O Oriens!_ on the same day as the Feast of St. Thomas. It was on account of St. Thomas' _doubt_ that the great principle was given to the Church: "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." It is on account of St. Thomas' _faith_ that countless Indulgences are granted every day to the faithful who make use of his words: "My Lord and my God" when their sight shows them nothing but a little Host elevated by a priest. It was St. Thomas' _zeal_ which made him go to the Indies and proclaim that the Orient had visited His people and that God had become incarnate for men. "Thou didst make all the Indies shine with much light" (Hymn of the Greek Church to St. Thomas), and that light was the light of faith in Him Whom they had not seen. It is St. Thomas who comes to-day to revive our flagging faith, to introduce us to the Babe of Bethlehem and tell us that He is indeed the Orient though He is hiding His light, to warn us to give no heed to temptations against the faith, to tell us that when we are contemplating the humility and nothingness of our God and the temptation comes to us, as it did to him to say: Unless I see for myself, "I will not believe," to remember the words of the Master: "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed."