Pillars of Fire In My Soul

to God. Her acts of obedience to her parents, her willingness to ask for forgiveness, her attention to education and work, her love of children and the fun she had with them: all of these are signs of a person at home with herself, a person who is not afraid to be fully alive and human, a person who knows the ultimate truth: that she is a beloved child of God. Sometimes Helen’s gift for the truth made her interpret even jokes literally. Once when she was little, her father teasingly told her that she was really the daughter of a neighbor. She packed her few belongings and started to walk down the road to the home where she thought she truly belonged. Her mother explained to her that her father spoke in jest and brought her back. Her family interpreted Helen’s leaving home to her being unable to believe her father would not speak the truth. When she was a postulant with the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, one of her former employers was asked to come to Warsaw to give a reference for her. By mistake her employer went to the wrong convent, and explained that she was there to give a testimonial for Helen, a former housemaid. The portress said that they did not take housemaids as postulants (house- maids had a reputation for being careless and untrustworthy) and that Helen must have lied to enter the convent. Her employer flew to her defense, saying, “Helen would never lie to me, if I could not believe her, I would never believe any- one else!” She was totally convinced of Helen’s goodness and adherence to the truth. When she finally found the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, Helen’s employer told them of Helen’s love for the truth and how she would never expect Helen not to tell the truth. She also told of the way Helen would sing about the Blessed Sacrament as she worked, showing that her mind was on Jesus, and that her work was being offered up for God’s glory. In such simple ways, St. Faustina reminds us that love of God is a daily willingness to surrender to God’s perfect will, letting go of our own need to be in control; a daily willingness to spend The Road to Canonization 155