Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

I f the things you are telling me really come from Qod, prepare your sou l fo r great suffering, f o u zvill encounter disapproval and persecution. ‘They zvill too !c upon you as a hysteric and an eccentric, But the Lord zoiCC lavish tJdis graces upon you. Lrue works o f (jod always meet opposi­ tion and are marked By suffering. I f (jod wants to accomplish something, sooner or later Me zvitt do so in spite o f the difficulties, fo u r part, in the meantime, is to arm yourself zvith great patience." (Diary, Notebook I, para. 270). S ister F au s tina remembered well the advice of her confessor. I t was the yardstick for the constan t stream of new efforts she was mak ing to adopt his counsel appropriately to h e r life. "Oh, how great a grace it is to have a spiritual director! One makes more rapid progress in -virtue, sees the zviCC o f (jod more clearly, fu l f i l ls it more faithfully, and follows a road that is sure and free from dangers. Lhe director knows how to avoid the rocks against which the sou l could Be shattered. Lhe Lord gave me this grace rather late, to Be sure, But I rejoice in it greatly, seeing how (jod inclines dfis zvill to my Director's zvishes' (Diary, Notebook I, para. 331). This very positive and submissive a tti tu d e of Sister F au s tina towards F a the r Sopocko is also confirmed by Mother Borgia, who from March 1935 as Superior had a close insigh t into the sp iritua l lives of the S isters in Vilnius: "Sister Faustina particularly revered Father Sopoc­ ko, th ink ing tha t God had given him specially to her a in s g. h " er confessor, though he was a t times very exact­ 158