“In this vale of tears, suffering will not be lacking, and we should be content to have something to offer to our most beloved Jesus who wanted so much to suffer for love of us.” #BlessedMariaSagrario #SaintOfTheDay
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The most direct way to unite ourselves to God is that of the cross, so we should always desire it. May the Lord not permit that I be separated from his divine will.
Blessed be God who gives us these ways of offering ourselves up to his love! The day will arrive when we will rejoice for having suffered in this way. Meanwhile, let us be generous, suffering everything, if not with happiness, at least in close conformity to the divine will of him who suffered so much out of love for us. However great are our sufferings, they come nowhere near his.
Blessed be he who arranges everything for our good! In possessing him, we possess everything.
Blessed María Sagrario of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Moragas Cantarero
Excerpt from the Office of Readings, where her memorial is observed on 16 August
Blessed Maria Sagrario, seen here in civilian attire after her execution on 15 August 1936.
Discalced Carmelite historian Father Iván Mora Pernía provides additional details concerning the final days in the life and vocation of Blessed Maria Sagrario:
On 20 July 1936, a mob of revolutionaries stormed the Carmel of Santa Ana in Madrid, where Blessed Maria Sagrario of St. Aloysius Gonzaga had just been re-elected Prioress on the first day of the month. On 14 August she was arrested and taken to the prison at Marqués del Riscal. The Blessed refused to give in to the demands of the revolutionary militia. On 15 August, between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., she was executed by firing squad in the Pradera de San Isidro [translation by the blogger].
Carmelite Quotes 
Dear ones, I found it more than a little shocking to see a photo of the executed
Carmelite on the posting. Please don’t do that. It shows a lack of respect for the dead.
Maybe I’m old fashioned but I thought that it was always an unspoken rule of journalism not to do that.. God bless you.
Thank you so much for your comment, offered with such charity. It is deeply appreciated. It is our custom, as it is a treasured custom among many Carmelites, to share photos of our saints as they appeared in death. Sadly, there is no photo of Blessed Maria Sagrario lying in a chapel, clothed in her habit, wearing a wreath of flowers as on the day of her profession, surrounded by even more fresh flowers and candles. We have deathbed photos of many other saints. But we venerate this photo of Blessed Maria Sagrario because it is our reminder that she took to heart the words of our Holy Mother Teresa in the first chapter of The Way of Perfection: “It seemed to me that I would have given a thousand lives to save one soul… The world is all in flames; they want to sentence Christ again, so to speak… they want to ravage His Church—and are we to waste time asking for things that if God were to give them we’d have one soul less in heaven?” Your blogger is a Discalced Carmelite by promise and profession (and we’re a tad old-fashioned, too); yet, simply a blogger who publishes quotes from Carmelite saints and authors, never claiming to be a journalist. Once again, thanks for your comment… God reward you!