Anna Schäffer – Thoughts and Memories of my Life of Illness – and My Longing for the Eternal Homeland

Anna Schäffer (1882–1925) bore physical pain and poverty for 25 years following a tragic accident, but decided to offer her life and her suffering as an expiation to God. She left behind her hand-written thoughts and memories of her life of illness. In these notes Anna Schäffer comes to speak of the sources from which she drew the strength to form her interior life, and to bear her suffering: gazing upon the Crucified and love for the cross as a pledge of our redemption, the reception of Holy Communion and the contemplative praying of the Rosary. From her sickbed she reached the height and perfection of Christian life. Anna Schäffer’s notes are an authentic testimony to her hidden love for Christ. In writing her memoirs she has left us a summary of her spiritual life.