Saint Paul Miki

Like my Master I shall die upon the cross. Like him, a lance will pierce my heart so that my blood and my love can flow out upon the land and sanctify it to his name.

-- Saint Paul Miki

Saint Agatha

Lord, my creator, you have protected me since I was in the cradle. You have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Now receive my spirit. 

-- Saint Agatha 

Saint Joseph of Leonessa

O most holy cross, transform us completely into yourself.  Let your base become our feet, your beams our arms, your summit our head.  And so that we may become the cross, nail our feet that they may be fixed in you;  bind our arms that they may not act apart form you; open our side, wound breast and touch our heart with love for you.  Grant that our eyes may see nothing but you; our ears hear nothing but you; our nostrils smell nothing but you.  O cross, rest in us now, as once Christ rested upon you; may we thirst for you, just as Christ, while hanging upon you, thirsted for us. May we commend ourselves to Him who hun upon you, just as he commended himself to the Eternal Father. O sweet cross, o loving cross, be our defence and our support.

-- Saint Joseph of Leonessa

Pope Saint Clement

Since all things lie open to His eyes and ears, let us hold Him in awe and rid ourselves of impure desires to do works of evil, so that we may be protected by His mercy from the judgement that is to come. Which of us can escape His mighty hand?

-- Pope Saint Clement

Saint John Vianney

Prayer is nothing else but union with God. In this intimate union, God and the soul are fused together like two bits of wax that no one can ever pull apart. This union of God with a tiny creature is a lovely thing. It is a happiness beyond understanding.

-- Saint John Vianney

Saint Nicholas of Flüe

My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.

-- Saint Nicholas of Flüe

Saint John Bosco

Let us regard those boys over whom we have some authority as our own sons. Let us place ourselves in their service. Let us be ashamed to assume an attitude of superiority. Let us not rule over them except for the purpose of serving them better. 

This was the method that Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity. He treated sinners with a kindness and affection that caused some to be shocked, others to be scandalized and still others to hope for God's mercy. And so he bade us to be gentle and humble of heart. 

-- Saint John Bosco from a letter