Good Friday - Saint Anna Schaffer

On Good Friday, we do not have Mass. Rather, the Passion of Jesus is proclaimed, we venerate the Cross and receive Holy Communion. The bread and wine are not changed into the body and blood of Jesus; the sacrifice of Calvary does not become present on the altar. The Church wants us to know, if it wasn't for the suffering and death of Jesus, we would not have Mass. But, the Church does not deprive us of Holy Communion.

Due to her sufferings, St. Anna Schäffer couldn't attend Mass. But, a priest gave her Holy Communion daily. She received the stigmata and shared in the Passion of Jesus.

Anna Schäffer was born February 18, 1882, in Mindelstetten in Bavaria (Germany). Her family was poor. After her father died at age 40, she dropped out of school at 14 and worked as a maid to help her family. She had hoped to enter a religious order, but had to help provide for her family.

  At age 11, she received her first Holy Communion, telling Our Lord, “Do with me as you want … if you will it, my Jesus, let me become an expiatory sacrifice to atone for all dishonor and all offenses that are committed against you.”

At age 16, Anna had a disturbing vision. She had a vision of Mary, who was carrying a rosary. She told Anna the importance of praying it, and warned her she would have much suffering in life. She was so upset by it that she left her workplace and couldn’t be convinced to go back.

She was terrified and probably confused as to why she should suffer. She and her family were already suffering due to their poverty. Why more?

It is a mystery why some suffer more than others. I have been relatively healthy and comfortable. Most people don't outwardly show their suffering. We just don’t know what other people are going through, do we?

On February 4, 1901, Anna had an accident while working at her job. She and another employee were washing linens which was done with boiling water in a large kettle. When the stove pipe came loose, Anna climbed up and stood on the edge of the kettle to reattach the stove pipe. She slipped and fell in boiling water, scalding her legs.

She was taken to the hospital, but there was little hope of helping her. Everything the doctors tried only seemed to make things worse. They didn't know if she would survive. After three months, more than 30 operations and many failed skin grafts, Anna’s doctors released her to the care of her mother. She was bedridden and in great pain.

Anna’s life looked bleak. Her dream of becoming a religious sister was gone. She was in constant pain and would be confined to her bed for the remainder of her life.

The devastation and despair would be crushing. Anna struggled with her fate for about two years, fighting depression and perhaps feeling angry about the accident.

Thankfully, Anna eventually found her strength in the Eucharist and in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She often couldn’t sleep, which led her into deep prayer to Jesus and in devotion to Mary. Because of her sufferings, she could not attend Mass, so, an abbot brought her the Eucharist daily. It sustained her in her suffering, and she wrote a moving description of how it fed her: “I cannot write by pen how happy I am every time after Holy Communion. Ah, I forget my earthly suffering and the longing of my poor soul draws me every moment to adore my God and Savior hidden in the Blessed Sacrament!”

The gift of the Eucharist sustained Anna and can sustain us in our struggles in life. We shouldn’t underestimate the power of the Lord’s body and blood to lift us up and strengthen us for our journey, whatever the journey is.

Now that Anna had accepted and abandoned herself to her suffering, she focused her energy on three things she felt were her keys to entering heaven: her suffering, her writing and her ability to knit clothes for friends. Many people came to visit her for comforting words and to ask for her prayers, which she always gave. She became well known for her patience and kindness, especially in the face of her situation.

In October of 1910, Anna had another vision of Jesus. In this vision, he told her she would feel the pains of his passion in atonement for sins against the Eucharist. When she took Communion that day, she was touched by five rays of fire on her hands, feet and heart. The stigmata lasted the remainder of her life causing her pain in those areas, especially on Thursdays and Fridays, Sundays and feast days.

Anna wanted nothing more than to emulate the suffering of her Lord, accepting it patiently and without rebellion. She united her suffering to His, rather than fighting against it. This unification of her suffering to Jesus's suffering made her prayers for others all the more powerful.

We have all heard that the best way to handle suffering is to offer it to God as atonement for our sins and the sins of the world. We are to use it to be fruitful for the greater good.

That’s a difficult ask. Anna prayed constantly for the strength and grace to bear it. We must as well.

When faced with suffering, the best we can do is pray for God’s graces and ask him to help us offer it up. Anna couldn’t do it alone and neither can we. Even if your suffering is internal, it’s a burden that is crying out for the Lord’s help. Don’t turn away from Jesus despair. Rather, give it to Him. Let Him carry you.

In 1925, Anna learned she had colon cancer which eventually caused paralysis of her spine. She died October 5 of that year only minutes after receiving the Eucharist. Her last word were, "Jesus, I live for you." A few years after her death, over 15,000 miracles have been attributed to her intercession.

St. Anna Schäffer was beatified March 7, 1999, by Pope John Paul II and canonized October 21, 2012, by Pope Benedict XVI. Her feast day is October 5. She is a patron saint of disabled and bedridden people and accident victims.

Pope John Paul II had moving words about her during her beatification:

“If we look to Blessed Anna Schäffer, we read in her life a living commentary on what Saint Paul wrote to the Romans: ‘Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us’ (Rom. 5:5). She most certainly was not spared the struggle to abandon herself to the will of God. But she was given to grow in the correct understanding that weakness and suffering are the pages on which God writes His Gospel…Her sickbed became the cradle of an apostolate that extended to the whole world.”

On this Good Friday, let us thank Jesus for His suffering and death and permitting us to share in His suffering. Let us also thank Him for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, whereby we receive Holy Communion to give us strength to endure our sufferings of life.

St. Anna Schäffer, pray for us in, our sufferings and help us to love Jesus in the Eucharist, as you loved Him!