Our present life is given to us only to gain the eternal one and if we don’t think about it, we build our affections on what belongs to this world, where our life is transitory. When we have to leave it, we are afraid and become agitated. Believe me, to live happily in this pilgrimage, we have to aim at the hope of arriving at our Homeland, where we will stay eternally. Meanwhile, we have to believe firmly that God calls us to himself and follows us along the path toward him. He will never permit anything to happen to us that is not for our greater good. He knows who we are and he will hold out his paternal hand to us during difficulties, so that nothing will prevent us from running to him swiftly. But to enjoy this grace we must have complete trust in him.

– St. Pio of Pietrelcina