Communion (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Nothing can make up for the absence
of someone whom we love ... It is nonsense
to say that God fills the gap; God doesn’t fill it,
but on the contrary, God keeps it empty and so helps
us to keep alive our former communion with 
each other, even at the cost of pain ... The 
dearer and richer our memories, the more
difficult the separation. But gratitude
changes the pangs of memory into
a tranquil joy. The beauties
of the past are borne, not as a 
thorn in the flesh, but as a
precious gift in themselves.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer