“Watch with the heart, watch with faith, watch with hope, watch with charity, watch with good works; and then, when you shall sleep in your body, the time will come that you shall rise. And when you shall have risen, make ready the lamps. Then shall they go out no more, then shall they be renewed with the inner oil of conscience; then shall the Bridegroom fold you in His spiritual embrace, then shall He bring you into His house where you shall never sleep, where your lamp can never be extinguished.” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“Christ will appear at the judgment, not in humility – which belonged to the time of merit – but in the glorious form that is indicative of His reward…The sight of His glory will be a joy to the elect who have loved Him; to these is made the promise in Isaiah 33:17, that they ‘shall see the King in His beauty’.” St. Thomas Aquinas (13th century, Doctor of the Church)

“Let nothing remain which could come between your soul and God, so that you may be able to pass surely and directly from the wounds of the sacred humanity to the brightness of the divinity.” St. Albert the Great (13th century, Doctor of the Church)

“O God, what joy we shall have in heaven when we behold our heart’s Beloved like an infinite sea whose waters are infinite perfection and goodness! Then just as stags, long pursued and hard pressed, put their mouths to a clear, cool spring and draw into themselves its fair, fresh waters, so too after so many languors and longings our hearts shall come to that mighty, living font which is the Divinity.” St. Francis de Sales (16th-17th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“Let us not be carried away by disturbing and morose fears; still less should we try to know when we will die and in what place; whether it will be in the country or in the city; on horseback or at the foot of a mountain; or by some stone crushing us; or whether we will die in bed assisted by someone or alone. What does all that matter?…It is enough that I am all His, not only by right, but still more in affection. Besides, what should I be concerned about except to abandon myself to that caring Providence which will never fail me, either in life or in death.” St. Francis de Sales

“Those who offer their death to God make the most perfect act of divine love possible, because by cheerfully accepting the kind of death which God is pleased to send them, when and how God sends it, they are just like the holy martyrs who died for the sake of the Faith and out of love for Jesus.” St. Alphonsus Liguori (17th-18th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“If you look for God you will find Him, and in the hour of your death He will say to you: ‘See, I am here Whom you have ever sought’!” St. John Vianney (18th-19th centuries)

“We can believe what we choose. [But] we are answerable for what we choose to believe.” St. John Henry Newman (19th century)

(While sailing across the Atlantic Ocean)”We seem to see the portals of Heaven which do not close at the end of the day, because there daytime never ends, for the day up there is eternal and the light which emanates from the Divine Face never fails. There, in that abode, exists no night, no ignorance, no blindness, for everything is seen in God; there, no sorrows exist, no tears, no adversity, no sighs…There is no fear of losing God; no wiles of the enemy, for he has been routed; the world is far away, and the body spiritualized lives in harmony with the soul…Come, oh supernatural Light, to reveal to us the beauties of that Blessed Country, and detach us from the miseries of this earth; make our eyes so pure that, through the shining crystal of Faith, they may behold the eternal good which awaits us after a short time of sacrifice and self-conquering. He who fights will be victorious, and to the victor the prize is Heaven.” St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (19th-20th centuries)

“Evil may have its hour, but God will have His day.” Ven. Fulton Sheen (19th-20th centuries)

“Why do souls go to Hell? In the last analysis, souls go to Hell for one great reason and that is – they refuse to love. Love pardons everything except one thing – refusal to love.” Ven. Fulton Sheen