Saint Therese of Lisieux

You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them. 

-- Saint Therese of Lisieux

Saint Jerome

I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: “Search the Scriptures,” and “Seek and you shall find.” For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. No one should think that I mean to explain the entire subject matter of this great book of the prophet Isaiah in one brief sermon, since it contains all the mysteries of the lord. It prophesies that Emmanuel is to be born of a virgin and accomplish marvelous works and signs. It predicts his death, burial and resurrection from the dead as the Savior of all men. Whatever is proper to holy Scripture, whatever can be expressed in human language and understood by the human mind, is contained in the book of Isaiah. 

-- Saint Jerome from a commentary on Isaiah

Pope Saint Gregory the Great

You should be aware that the word “angel” denotes a function rather than a nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can only be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover, those who deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels.

-- Pope Saint Gregory the Great from a homily

Saint Laurence Ruiz

That I will never do, because I am a Christian, and I shall die for God, and for him I will give many thousands of lives if I had them. And so, do with me as you please.

-- Saint Laurence Ruiz after being asked to renounce his faith

Saint Vincent de Paul

Extend your mercy towards others, so that there can be no one in need whom you meet without helping. For what hope is there for us if God should withdraw His Mercy from us?

-- Saint Vincent de Paul

Saint Marie Victoire Therese Couderc

I abandon myself with my whole heart to God's will, and to God's good pleasure — and when I have in all sincerity made this act of self-surrender, I experience great tranquility and perfect peace. 

-- Saint Marie Victoire Therese Couderc

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

Only a pure soul can boldly say: "Thy kingdom come." One who has heard Paul say, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies," and has purified himself in action thought, and word will say to God: "Thy kingdom come!" 

-- Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

Saint Basil the Great

By the command of your only-begotten Son we communicate with the memory of your saints...by whose prayers and supplications have mercy upon us all, and deliver us for the sake of your holy name. 

-- Saint Basil the Great

Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more. 

-- Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

Saint Julius the Veteran

It was he who died for our sins to give us eternal life. This same man, Christ, is God and abides for ever and ever. Whoever believes in Him will have eternal life; whoever denies Him will have eternal punishment. 

-- Saint Julius the Veteran to his examiners at his trial

Saint Therese of Lisieux

Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity. 

-- Saint Therese of Lisieux

Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn

My dear brothers and sisters, know this: Our Lord Jesus Christ upon descending into the world took innumerable pains upon and constituted the holy Church through his own passion and increases it through the passion of its faithful....

Now, however, some fifty or sixty years since the holy Church entered into our Korea, the faithful suffer persecutions again. Even today persecution rages, so that many of our friends of the same faith, among whom I am myself, have been thrown into prison. just as you also remain in the midst of persecution. Since we have formed one body, how can we not be saddened in our innermost hearts? How can we not experience the pain of separation in our human faculties?

However, as Scripture says, God cares for the least hair of our heads, and indeed he cares with his omniscience; therefore, how can persecution be considered as anything other than the command of God, or his prize, or precisely his punishment?...

We are twenty here, and thanks be to God all are still well. If anyone is killed, I beg you not to forget his family. I have many more things to say, but how can I express them with pen and paper? I make an end to this letter. Since we are now close to the struggle, I pray you to walk in faith, so that when you have finally entered into Heaven, we may greet one another. I leave you my kiss of love.

-- Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn in his last letter to his parish

NOTE: Today in Korea there are approximately 4 million Catholics, and Korea has the 4th largest number of Catholic saints in the world.

Saint Emily de Rodat

I was sixteen years of age when I learned to know Our Lord. This experience overwhelmed me and I wanted God and only God. 

-- Saint Emily de Rodat

Saint Vincent de Paul

It was His Will that after His death the Church should give us His image in the crucifix, that he might appear to us in a condition of utmost ignominy. And why? He did it because He knew the worth of humility and the danger of the sin which opposes it.

-- Saint Vincent de Paul

Saint Robert Bellarmine

Charity is that with which no man is lost, and without which no man is saved. 

-- Saint Robert Bellarmine

Saint Ambrose of Milan

No one heals himself by wounding another. 

-- Saint Ambrose of Milan

Saint Catherine of Genoa

If it were given to a man to see virtue's reward in the next world, he would occupy his intellect, memory and will in nothing but good works, careless of danger or fatigue. 

-- Saint Catherine of Genoa

Saint Aelia Flaccilla

To distribute money belongs to the imperial dignity, but I offer up for the imperial dignity itself personal service to the Giver. 

-- Saint Aelia Flaccilla

Saint John Chrysostom

When you perceive that God is chastening you, fly not to his enemies...but to his friends, the martyrs, the saints, and those who were pleasing to him, and who have great power in God.

-- Saint John Chrysostom

Saint John of Avila

Your life consists in drawing nearer to God. To do this you must endeavor to detach yourself from visible things and remember that in a short time they will be taken from you. 

-- Saint John of Avila

Saint Vincent of Lerins

If one yields ground on any single point of Catholic doctrine, one will later have to yield later in another, and again in another, and so on until such surrenders come to be something normal and acceptable. And when one gets used to rejecting dogma bit by bit, the final result will be the repudiation of it altogether.

-- Saint Vincent of Lerins

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

The heavens are not pure in the sight of Him Whom I serve; how then shall I, a sinful man, stand before Him? 

-- Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

Saint John Cantius

Avoid slander because it is difficult to retract. Avoid offending anyone for to ask forgiveness is not delightful.

-- Saint John Cantius

Saint Margaret of Cortona

My daughter, I see more Pharisees among Christians than there were around Pilate.

-- Saint Margaret of Cortona

Saint Athanasius the Great

You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress. 

-- Saint Athanasius the Great

Pope St. Gregory the Great

Perhaps it is not after all so difficult for a man to part with his possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself. To renounce what one has is a minor thing; but to renounce what one is, that is asking a lot.

-- Pope St. Gregory the Great

Saint John of Damascus

God created man to be straightforward, but he has entangled himself with an infinity of questions.

-- Saint John of Damascus

Saint Madeline Sophie Barat

Our Lord who saved the world through the Cross will only work for the good of souls through the Cross. 

                           
-- Saint Madeline Sophie Barat 

Pope Saint Gregory the Great

If we knew at what time we were to depart from this world, we would be able to select a season for pleasure and another for repentance. But God, who has promised pardon to every repentant sinner, has not promised us tomorrow. Therefore we must always dread the final day, which we can never foresee. This very day is a day of truce, a day for conversion. And yet we refuse to cry over the evil we have done! Not only do we not weep for the sins we have committed, we even add to them. 

-- Pope Saint Gregory the Great 

Saint Josemaria Escriva

The rosary is said not with the lips alone, muttering Hail Marys one after the other. … For a Christian vocal prayer must spring from the heart, so that while the rosary is said, the mind can enter into contemplation of each one of the mysteries.

-- Saint Josemaria Escriva