Dear Gabriel,

At the monastery today we looked in great detail at John 11­ – the Raising of Lazarus. This was the end of our retreat and it was only right that having looked last Easter at the parable of the Vine we should end with this. At first, reading these passages can be done almost too easily. It’s only with repeated readings and exegesis that the full majesty and depth of virtually every feature comes to the fore. And every sentence has another meaning.

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

As I read this passage several times and imagined it and studied the picture exhibited in the Abbey Church, attributed to Borromeo, of the raising of Lazarus, an extraordinary coming of certainty and belief in the truth of the story came to me. I know that I have often doubted, but, dear Gabriel, I tell you that it is worth reading and pondering on. Something special might happen for you, too.

Yours,

Thomas