Saint Augustine of Hippo

Neither are the souls of the pious dead separated from the Church which even now is the kingdom of Christ. Otherwise there would be no remembrance of them at the altar of God in the communication of the Body of Christ.

-- Saint Augustine of Hippo from "The City of God"

Saint Thomas More

And, therefore, my own good daughter, do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world. Nothing can come but what God wills. And I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best. 

-- Saint Thomas More in a letter from prison to his daughter Margaret

Saint John of the Cross

Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing. 

-- Saint John of the Cross

Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of men, for whom his every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all mankind, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of heaven. 

--Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Saint Jude Thaddeus

To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished and exultant, in the presence of His Glory, to the only God, Our Savior, through Jesus Christ Our Lord be glory, majesty, power, and authority from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen

-- Saint Jude Thaddeus from The Epistle of Jude 1:24-25

Saint Conrad of Parzham

It was God's will that I should leave everything that was near and dear to me. I thank him for having called me to religious life where I have found such peace and joy as I could never have found in the world. My plan of life is chiefly this: to love and suffer, always meditating upon, adoring and admiring God's unspeakable love for his lowliest creatures. 

-- Saint Conrad of Parzham

Saint Quodvultdeus

The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The Christ child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.

-- Saint Quodvultdeus from a sermon about the Holy Innocents