But it behooves us to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: in Whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection: by Whom we are saved, and delivered.
Gal 6:14
We have sinned much: I know this well. For we are all liable for penalties. But we are not deprived of pardon; nor shall we fall away from repentance for we still stand in the arena, and are in the struggles of repentance. Are You old, and have you come to the last outlet of life? Do not consider even thus that you have fallen from repentance, nor despair of your own salvation, but consider the robber who was freed on the cross. For what was briefer than that hour in which he was crowned? Yet notwithstanding even this was enough for him, for salvation.
St John Chrysostom
The tongue would not be sufficient to relate the delight felt by him who goes on this road, for, even in this life, he tastes and participates in that good which has been prepared for him in eternal life.
The Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena
Benjamin, in the Old Law, was the figure of the predestinate: accordingly, it is to him that the cup, or chalice, is given – a gift, says St Ambrose, which is presented to only one of all the children of Jacob. To all, indeed, corn was given, but the chalice is reserved for one alone. In fine the great Doctor of our salvation, the Adorable Jesus, teaches us that His disciples shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice, the world which knows not God and is the enemy of God.
Henri-Marie Boudon
Heaven is open only to the innocent and to the truly penitent.
Massillon
Alas, my dear brethren, what have we become even since our conversion? Instead of going always forward and increasing in holiness, what laziness and what indifference we display! God cannot endure this perpetual inconstancy with which we pass from virtue to vice and from vice to virtue. Tell me, my children, is not this the very pattern of the way you live?
St John Vianney
AnaStpaul 