St. Anna Schaeffer: Apostle of Suffering and Reparation*

Do you feel that life is burdensome and filled with suffering? Today is the World Day of the Sick, and I want to share a story about St. Anna Schaeffer, a German laywoman and Apostle of Suffering and Reparation, who was canonized alongside our very own San Pedro Calungsod and five others.

Our Lord called Anna to a vocation of suffering. In 1901, her journey of suffering began when the stovepipe over the laundry boiler became detached from the wall. In her attempt to fix it, she slipped into a vat of boiling lye, scalding both legs above the knees.

The doctors deemed her case hopeless, releasing her from the hospital as an invalid, bedridden patient. This painful infirmity compounded her extreme poverty. Like many of us, she questioned, “Why God? Why me?” Yet, over time, she learned to recognize God’s will in this harsh school of suffering, accepting it with increasing joy. She generously offered her life and sufferings to God.

By 1910, Anna bore the wounds of Christ, though few were aware of it. To avoid sensationalism and suffer in secret, she asked the Lord to remove the visible stigmata. She was prepared to endure even greater hardships. Eventually, her legs became completely paralyzed, followed by painful cramps from a stiffening spinal cord and, ultimately, cancer of the rectum. Despite her suffering, she combined an active apostolate—writing countless letters to the needy and providing advice, as well as embroidering for churches and chapels—with a life of prayer, sacrifice, and suffering.

Five weeks before her death, Anna fell out of bed, suffering a brain injury that robbed her of her voice, making her a "silent victim." On October 5, 1925, she received her last Communion.

In 2007, the Holy Father remarked, “[We must allow ourselves] to be taken and led by the [Lord], to say 'yes' to the will of God, with all one's existence interwoven with joys and sadness, hopes and disappointments, in the awareness that tribulations, pain, and suffering enrich the meaning of our pilgrimage on earth.”

The Holy Father’s words resonate deeply: our journey on earth toward heaven is imbued with meaning through our pains and sufferings. This perspective diverges from worldly views, reflecting the way of Jesus—the way of the cross. If we sometimes find life burdensome and fraught with suffering, let us remember that we are invited to join Jesus in the work of salvation by uniting our suffering with His.