Saint Augustine of Hippo

Suppose an evil person would offend you, or one whom you judge to be evil or even imagine so. Would you abandon so many others who are good?

-- Saint Augustine of Hippo

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.

-- Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You. 

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often. 

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life and without You I am without fervor. 

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light and without You I am in darkness. 

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will. 

Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You. 

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much and alway be in Your company. 

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You. 

Stay with me, Lord, as poor as my soul is I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love. 

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close and life passes, death, judgment and eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile! 

Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You. 

Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart. 

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love. 

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. 

With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen.

-- Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, his prayer after Holy Communion

Saint Thomas of Villanova

If there are people who refuse to work, that is for the authorities to deal with. My duty is to assist and relieve those who come to my door.

-- Saint Thomas of Villanova

Saint Bede the Venerable

Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me.” Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men.” He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: “Follow me.” This following meant imitating the pattern of his life – not just walking after him. Saint John tells us: “Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” “And he rose and followed him.” There is no reason for surprise that the tax collector abandoned earthly wealth as soon as the Lord commanded him. Nor should one be amazed that neglecting his wealth, he joined a band of men whose leader had, on Matthew’s assessment, no riches at all. Our Lord summoned Matthew by speaking to him in words. By an invisible, interior impulse flooding his mind with the light of grace, he instructed him to walk in his footsteps. In this way Matthew could understand that Christ, who was summoning him away from earthly possessions, had incorruptible treasures of heaven in his gift.

-- Saint Bede the Venerable from a homily

Saint Basil the Great

Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God "Father" and to share in Christ's grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory. 

-- Saint Basil the Great

Saint Peter Damian

Let us detach ourselves in spirit from all that we see and cling to that which we believe. This is the cross which we must imprint on all our daily actions and behavior.

-- Saint Peter Damian