“Nothing can make up for the absence of someone whom we love,
and it would be wrong to try to find a substitute;
we must simply hold out and see it through.
That sounds very hard at first,
but at the same time it is a great consolation,
for the gap,
as long as it remains unfilled,
preserves the bonds between us.
It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap;
God doesn’t fill it, but on the contrary,
keeps it empty and so helps us
to keep alive our former communion
with each other,
even at the cost of pain.”
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer