St Bernard

Never more will the cross of Christ appear void of effect in you, as in many sons of disobedience, who, delaying from day to day to turn to God, are seized by sudden death, and go down straightway to hell. We see flourish again under our eyes the wood whereon the Lord of Glory hung, who died not for His own nation only, But also that He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad (S. John xi. 52). He, yes, He Himself draws you, who loves you as His own flesh, as the most precious fruit of His cross, as the most worthy recompense of the blood he shed.

assuring them that there is no reason to mourn as lost a son who has followed a religious vocation: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bernard/letters.xlvi.html