Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

fulfil His commands. The requ e s t she now h ea rd did no t resemble any of th e others. On 22nd Feb ruary 1931, when, after hav ing finished all h e r daily tasks and taken p a r t th a t evening in th e community prayers in the chapel, she was alone in h e r cell... Bu t le t us pause and allow h e r to tell th e story of th e most im po rtan t moment of h e r life: 'In the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand [was] raised in the gesture o f blessing, the other was touching the garment a t the breast, f r om beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside a t the breast, there were emanating two large rays, one red, the other pale. In silence I kept my gaze f i ^ e d on the Lord. A f te r a while, Jesus sa id to me, 'fa in t an image according to the pattern you see, w ith the signature: Jesus, I trust in you . I desire that this image be venerated, f ir s t in your chapel, and [then] throughout the zvorld. I promise that the sou l that w ill venerate this image w ill not perish. I also promise victory over IitsJ enemies already here on earth, especially a t the hour o f death. I M yself zo ill defend i t as M y own glory.' (Diary, Notebook I, paras . 47,48). In th is Jesu s was giving S is te r F au s t in a two ta sk s to fulfil: 1. to p a in t His p ic ture as she saw Him, 2. to unde rtake its propagation, commencing w ith the Congregation, whence she was to spread i t over the whole of Christendom. In th is ex trao rd inary revelation , th e reade r’s a tten tion is f i rs t concentrated on the Person of Je su s Christ Himself. I t is so clearly the same Je su s of N azare th t h a t we know from th e gospels. We recognize Him. S is ter F au s t in a ’s account rem inds us of those p a r ts of the gospels in which is told how Christ, a fte r His i l l