On The Blessing of Death [St Ambrose]

St Paul says, "The world is crucified to me, and I to the world." Then he tells us that he means death in this life, and a good death: "We carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of our Lord Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body."

Feast of St Paul of the Cross

"Everything is contained in the Passion of Jesus. Do your best to stay hidden in the wounds of Jesus. In this way you will become rich in everything that is good and filled with God’s true light, so that you will be able to fly to perfect holiness. Be as simple as a child: always see the best in everyone and, with good intention, excuse the one who hurts you, seeing whatever harm he does as the result of some temptation. What destroys community is judging other people’s actions while losing sight of one’s own." - In the Heart of God, the Spiritual Teaching of St. Paul of the Cross

I Am God's Wheat [St Ignatius of Antioch]

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

The Sacrifice of Christians [St Augustine]

Every work that effects our union with God in a holy fellowship is a true sacrifice; every work, that is, which is referred to that final end, that ultimate good, by which we are able to be in the true sense happy. As a consequence even that mercy by which aid is given to man is not a sacrifice unless it is done for the sake of God. Sacrifice, though performed or offered by man, is something divine; that is why the ancient Latins gave it this name of ‘sacrifice,’ of something sacred. Man himself, consecrated in the name of God and vow to God, is therefore a sacrifice insofar as he dies to the world in order to live for God. This too is part of mercy, the mercy that each one has for himself. Scripture tells us: "Have mercy on your soul by pleasing God.”

Oblation: We Become What We Celebrate [St Fulgentius]

In our offering of the holy sacrifice we fulfill the command of our Savior, as recorded by the apostle Paul: "The Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said: "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you shall proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes."