Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

the will of God. W ha t Je su s asked of h e r did not come easily to her. She gave in gradua lly , and even reluc­ tan tly , although she always most fervently wished to be totally obedient to His will. In practice th is posed problems difficult to resolve. As far as the picture of S is te r F au s t in a ’s sp iritua lity seen from the exterior is concerned, the gam u t of accounts from various people concerning h e r is wide: it ranges from those who were in pe rm anen t contact with her,through those who knew h e r well to those who met h e r once or twice, and from th e purely external to those who knew h e r in tim a te ly and p e r ­ sonally. In to ta l, all these rem iniscences provide a rich and in te res ting picture, no t only of S is te r F au s tin a ’s mission and how it came to m a tu rity w ithin her, bu t also how those among whom she lived and worked received it. A superficial glance a t the m anuscrip ts lying before us will show the clear outline of the divine action, ju s t as how a magnificent f ru i t arises from a little seed. The seed of vocation was sown by Ch ris t in h e r soul in early childhood, and th e crucial po in t appears to have been h e r firs t Holy Communion. The earliness of h e r vocation had the effect th a t , a lthough the child Helenka Kowalska got on with everyone, personally committed and frank in h e r dealings w ith others, she never fell in love in an earth ly sense, nor ever enjoyed a tru e , deep friendship. Everything was directed towards God. From a very early age she h ad h e r secrets with God, bu t revealed them w ith g rea te r and g rea te r caution when experience quickly showed h e r th a t h e r own in te rio r life differed from those of others in h e r environment and was in te rp re ted incorrectly. This explains why, even in th e reminiscences of h e r family, de ta ils concerning h e r personal life a re few. The reminiscences concentrate chiefly upon family rela tionsh ips and the visible signs of piety. Helenka’s h e a r t was full of love for God from the time she was a tiny girl, and h e r loving filled he r life to the po in t th a t she did no t feel the need for other 11