The bridge

Bonds (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Nothing can fill the gap
When we are away from those we love
And it would be wrong to try and find anything.
We must simply hold out and win through.
That sounds very hard at first.
Buta t the same time
It is a great consolation
Since leaving the gap unfilled
Preserves the bonds of love between us.
It is nonsense to say that God filles the gap.
He does not fill it but leaves it empty,
So that our communion with another may be kept alive
Even at the cost of pain.

"My body is just my reflection …
When you die you leave your reflection.
Your real self leaves your body and
goes into another world … where
it will be the happiest life of all …
God has the answers, we have the
questions, and only int he end
will He tell us the answers.
God has kept new life a secret
and I am glad because it will give
us a surprise, it wiil give us such
a big surprise."

Garvan Byrne, aged 11, a year before he died.