Annemarie Wächter

from Wächter's letters and diaries:

what i am looking for is a life lived in the spirit of the kingdom of God. and that kingdom is not a vague, faraway ideal; it must be lived and fulfilled now, today... there will never be social justice as long as we merely give up a small part of our possessions and keep the greater share for ourselves. doesn’t every person have the right to such a life? is there not in every one a longing for light, for God, however hidden?

obviously it will demand a struggle against one’s selfish human nature; against the comforts of self-satisfied tranquility. such a life requires the readiness for sacrifice, privation, and even martyrdom. christ died on a cross, and his death did not relieve us of the necessity of going the same way. it was an example for us to follow.

i am so tired of today's sweetly gushing Christianity; of false enthusiasm and empty phrases! but I am also thankful to have found a knowledge of the burden and bitterness of Christ’s way. it is a way of conviction and faith and therefore of action, and that is what makes all the difference.