Saint Ambrose of Milan

The Church of the Lord is built upon the rock of the apostles among so many dangers in the world; it therefore remains unmoved. The Church's foundation is unshakable and firm against assaults of the raging sea. Waves lash at the Church but do not shatter it. Although the elements of this world constantly beat upon the Church with crashing sounds, the Church possesses the safest harbor of salvation for all in distress. 

-- Saint Ambrose of Milan

Pope Saint Leo the Great

And so if anything is rightly done and rightly decreed by us, if anything is won from the mercy of GOD by our daily supplications, it is of his work and merits whose power lives and whose authority prevails in his See. For this, dearly-beloved, was gained by that confession, which, inspired in the Apostle's heart by GOD the Father, transcended all the uncertainty of human opinions, and was endued with the firmness of a rock, which no assaults could shake. For throughout the Church Peter daily says, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living GOD," and every tongue which confesses the LORD, accepts the instruction his voice conveys. This Faith conquers the devil, and breaks the bonds of his prisoners. It uproots us from this earth and plants us in heaven, and the gates of Hades cannot prevail against it. For with such solidity is it endued by GOD that the depravity of heretics cannot mar it nor the unbelief of the heathen overcome it.

-- Pope Saint Leo the Great from a sermon

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 Alphonsus Liguori

What folly it would be for travellers to think only of acquiring dignities and possessions in the countries through which they had to pass, and then to reduce themselves to the necessity of living miserably in their native lands, where they must remain during their whole lives! And are not they fools who seek after happiness in this world, where they will remain only a few days, and expose themselves to the risk of being unhappy in the next, where they must live for eternity? 

-- Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Saint Peter Wu Gousheng

Be loyal to the Lord, accept his will. 

-- Saint Peter Wu Gousheng in a letter to his wife from prison

Saint Théophane Vénard

A slight sabre-cut will separate my head from my body, like the spring flower which the Master of the garden gathers for His pleasure. We are all flowers planted on this earth, which God plucks in His own good time: some a little sooner, some a little later...Father and son may we meet in Paradise. I, poor little moth, go first. Adieu. 

-- Saint Théophane Vénard  in a letter to his father just before his martyrdom in Vietnam

Saint Charles Borromeo

We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: "I will pray, and then I will understand." 

This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other men. 

-- Saint Charles Borromeo