GOD'S WILL

_{The porridge.}

Saint Thomas said:
"Will you serve us some porridge, if you make some?"

"How! If we do!" shouted the housewife, almost indignant. "It's been boiling for an hour, and for sure we'll all be eating it in five minutes."

“If it pleases God, I think,” replied the one who placed his hand inside Christ’s side.

"My faith! You would be Saint Thomas himself and you would not speak otherwise."

As she finished these words, the farmer's wife uttered a cry. The cauldron had just split in half so that all the porridge had spilled onto the hearth and onto the feet of this woman, who uttered pitiful cries.

"Well ! said the good saint, will you still call me Thomas out of irony?... Oh! never forget, all of you, that we are only assured of our share when we have eaten it… with the permission of the good Lord."

“No doubt,” said those present, "But it is quite certain that today we will do without porridge."

"Perhaps, my children, replied the travelers, lifting the cauldron, in which the porridge, boiled as before, was cooked to perfection in a few minutes, to the great astonishment of all these brave people...

And the poor burnt woman?

The poor burnt girl also had her share of porridge; his wound was instantly healed; and at this sight, the whole company, praising God, fell on their knees before the saints.

They soon withdrew, saying:

"Never forget, Christians, in your smallest actions, to submit to the will of the Lord Jesus.

Since that time, the true Bretons, and I think, the Christians of all countries, hardly fail to say: according to the will, or: with the permission of our Savior... And they act well because to say: if it pleases God, and meditate on a bad action, would be the height of hypocrisy.

Source: La Volonté de Dieu from the French book Contes et légendes de Basse-Bretagne published in 1891.

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