Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

The mission of S is ter F au s tin a , rem inding the world of the Divine Mercy, is a un iversa l mission, and ye t the framework w ithin which i t was to develop and rad ia te out beyond h e r life was so extremely modest and limited! She was a simple country girl, and in h e r convent she was a co-adjutrix, as h e r Congregation called such nuns, performing m anua l labour, since she h ad no professional qualifications. She had , however, a good deal of inna te intelligence, and du ring the course of h e r work she am assed an ex trao rd inary knowledge of hum an beings and th e ir complicated sp iritua l problems. Above all, she understood w ha t faith is in hum an life and w ha t a re its needs if i t is develop fully and embrace the whole hum an soul. This had a crucial significance for h e r apostolic mission. S is te r F au s tin a ’s m en ta l development was greatly affected by the fact th a t , in h e r religious community, she was several times moved to different houses and to different types of work: to th e kitchen , the bakery, the garden and the work of portress . I t certainly cannot have been easy or p leasan t to ge t used to new condi­ tions and a new place so frequen tly , b u t i t did widen h e r outlook and made i t easy to cu t he rse lf off from earth ly ties and hab its . In addition, work as portress and h e r contact w ith the convent wards, as also her occasional stays in hospital because of h e r increasingly severe lung disease, opened h e r eyes to problems of which she m igh t otherwise have rem a ined unconscious. Wherever she was, she quickly absorbed an elem entary knowledge of the work and could work independently w ith a g rea t sense of responsibility. H er knowledge was considerable, not only on practical m a tte rs , b u t ex­ tended to bringing up young people. She h ad b rough t with h e r all she had learned in h e r family home, where she had looked a fte r h e r younger bro thers and sisters, and w ha t she learned when employed, caring for h e r employers’ children. She was no pedagogue, b u t he r influence was considerable, sometimes g rea te r th an th a t of professional teachers , even in h e r own environment. 13