The Wisdom of the Saints about The Church (part 9)

“Accordingly, we too receive the Holy Spirit if we love the Church, if we are bound together by love, and if we rejoice in the Catholic name and faith.   Let us believe it, brothers and sisters:   we will have the Holy Spirit in the same measure that we love the Church of Christ.  Moreover, we love the Church of Christ when we stand fast in her membership and love.” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)
 
“The Church is your hope, the Church is your salvation, the Church is your refuge.” St. John Chrysostom (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)
 
“We are all embarked in the vessel of the Holy Church, and voyaging through this stormy world with the Lord.” St. Thomas Aquinas (13^th century, Doctor of the Church)
 
“I do not say one ought to believe the Catholic Faith without grounds and motives; but I say that when once one believes in God the great obstacle to faith has been taken away – a proud self-sufficient spirit.  When once a man really, with the eyes of his soul and by the power of divine grace, recognizes his Creator, he has passed a line; that has happened to him which cannot happen twice; he has bent his stiff neck, and triumphed over himself...Coming to you then from the very time of the Apostles, spreading out into all lands, triumphing over a thousand revolutions, exhibiting so awesome a unity, glorying in so mysterious a vitality, so majestic, so imperturbable, so bold, so saintly, so sublime, so beautiful, O you sons of men, can you doubt that she is the divine messenger for whom you seek?   Oh, long sought after, tardily found, desire of the eyes, joy of the heart, the truth after many shadow, the fullness after many foretastes, the home after many storms, come to her, poor wanderers, for she it is, and she alone, who can unfold the meaning of your being and the secret of your destiny,  She alone can open to you the gate of heaven and put you on your way.” St. John Henry Newman (19^th century, Doctor of the Church)
 
“She is the solace of the forlorn, the chastener of the prosperous, and the guide of the wayward.  She keeps a mother’s eye for the innocent, bears with a heavy hand upon the wanton, and has a voice of majesty for the proud.  She opens the mind of the ignorant, and she prostrates the intellect of even the most gifted,” St. John Henry Newman
 
“The difficulties of the primitive Church are just the same after twenty centuries, and it is not to be wondered at, for Christ has always been the sign of contradiction.  And so it must be with His Spouse, the Church, in this vale of misery and tears.  Do not fear difficulties.  Let us raise our eyes to our Heavenly Star.  Let us call upon Mary.  She is to us what she was to the Apostles and first Christians.” St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (19th-20th centuries)
 
“Christ knew that various prophets would arise and He warned against them; and He knew, too, that every person will not always be capable of telling the difference and distinguishing which is the Church He established.  That is why He expressly pointed it out when He turned to Peter and said: ‘You are Rock, and upon this Rock I will build My Church.’  Yes, His Church – the One Church of Christ, and not many churches.” St. Maximilian Kolbe (19th-20th centuries)
 
“...we know that our Lord once taught, governed, and sanctified through a physical body which He took through His Mother, and now we know that He continues to teach and govern and sanctify in the mystical body which He took from the womb of humanity.  His first body was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit; His mystical body was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  Therefore we accept every single word of His – not just what His secretaries wrote, but we receive His living words, living through the centuries.” Ven. Fulton Sheen (19th-20th centuries)
 
"The Church must suffer for speaking the truth, for pointing out sin, for uprooting sin. No one wants to have a sore spot touched, and therefore a society with so many sores twitches when someone has the courage to touch it and say: 'You have to treat that. You have to get rid of that. Believe in Christ. Be converted.'" St. Oscar Romero (20^th century)
 
“We pray to God, but He relies on us.  He established the Church as the instrument of salvation.  This Church bears the responsibility for the completion of God’s work and so is our hope.” Ven. Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan (20th-21st centuries)