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Note: This is part of a serial fiction series focusing on the life of St. Anna Schäffer, following the life of a fictional character as she encounters the saint. New chapters are released every Sunday!
“Anna! What’s taking you so long! We have another load of laundry to clean!”
Sofia never understood her friend. She was always withdrawing from her job as a maid to pray for a few quiet moments. It was difficult to get all the work done, and Anna’s frequent breaks didn’t help.
“Anna!”
Sofia could finally hear Anna running back inside the house.
“I am so sorry, Sofia! I-I lost track of time. Will you forgive me?”
“You know I always do, Anna. Next time, try to stay in the house. If Frau Huber catches you outside, we may lose this job! It’s the only one I have to help my mother and father at home. You should know better too! It has been a few years since your father died, and this job is the only thing keeping your family together.”
Sofia didn’t like to bring up the subject of Anna’s father, but work as a maid in Bavaria was not easy and she was afraid Anna’s actions would hurt them both.
She decided to lighten the mood a bit, “Or even worse, you may have to go back to school!”
Anna smiled back and then gathered a handful of soapy bubbles and threw them at Sofia.
“Hey, no fair! You caught me off-guard!”
The two were in the midst of a soap-bubble fight when Frau Huber walked into the room.
“Girls! Stop what you are doing right now!!”
Sofia and Anna stood still as statues while the towering figure of Frau Huber loomed over them. She was not happy with the girls for making a mess of her laundry room.
“I should dismiss you from this job this instant!”
She paused for a moment and then looked out the window.
“If Anna’s father had not built most of my furniture, you would never have a job again.” Frau Huber paused again and turned back to Sofia and Anna.
“Girls, clean-up this mess before Herr Huber gets home and come back tomorrow to finish the laundry. This better be the LAST time I see you two making a mess instead of working.”
“Yes, Frau Huber,” both the girls said in unison.
Sofia and Anna worked the rest of the day in silence, making up for lost time and cleaning the bubbles that stuck to the elaborate Victorian wallpaper.
As the two left the Huber home, Sofia asked Anna about her frequent breaks during the day.
“Why do you pray so much, Anna?”
Anna smiled and explained to Sofia, “As a little girl, I was always drawn to Jesus. At my First Communion I even wrote him a letter!”
“A letter to Jesus? What did it say?”
“I was filled with such great love of him, I wanted to offer him my whole self. I wrote, ‘Do with me as you want. If you will it my Jesus, let me become a sacrifice to atone for all dishonor and all offenses which are committed against you.”
“You did that as an 11 year-old? You have to be kidding me!”
“I kid you not, Sofia! I don’t know what it is, but I have always wanted to be a missionary, sharing Jesus with the world.”
“You are weird!”
Sofia then braced herself and said, “Let’s race to your house!”
The two raced down the street as fast as they could, panting heavily when they reached Anna’s home.
“I won!” yelled Anna. She was always the faster of the two, and had great strength in her legs.
“Tomorrow I will beat you!” Sofia yelled back. She continued her walk home, smiling to herself and thinking about such a strange friend she had in Anna.
Anna laughed as she walked into her small home. She greeted her mother and her five other siblings.
After dinner Anna went to bed early, exhausted from the day’s work.
Then something peculiar happened. While she was dreaming, a white light appeared and she saw a Shepherd talking to her ….
Come back next Sunday for the next chapter!
And today we celebrate...