Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

S is te r F au s tina to accept suffering, b u t he rse lf to seek i t ou t as the b e s t m a teria l to be fashioned into a precious substance for God. He ordered h e r to reflect on and digest th is subject as deeply as possible, for i t is the basic manifestation of the Divine proposition. But s tand ing before God as a sacrifice of a tonem en t for the sins of o thers, and in addition a ttem p ting to ease the burden of s inners by tak in g on oneself a p a r t of th e ir moral and m en ta l suffering, if only to protect them from despair or discouragement, leads in conse­ quence to a situation in which suffering is an in ­ escapable companion. W ithou t rega rd for which of the two motives i t is unde rtaken , i t leaves ha rd ly a mo­ m en t free. I t is always necessary to be in a s ta te of physical and mental read iness, not to protect oneself aga in s t any form of suffering th a t may be given, and always accepting i t of one’s own free will to transform i t w ithin the self into an offering of a tonem en t to God. The ha rdsh ip of such a role is, however, rewarded by joy, for Je su s does no t hide His pleasure and is not slow to praise and encourage His spouse. 'Jesus made krioum to me lo w very pleasing to Odim were prayers o f atomment. “He sa id to me , ,fIhe prayer o f a (tumble and loving sou l disarms the anger o f My fa th e r and drew down an ocean o f blessings.' (Diary, Notebook I, para. 320). I t was astounding how many constan t small vexations multiplied themselves along the pa th of the daily life of S ister Faustina . Vilnius was, for her, certainly, the promised land, for he re th e ta sk given h e r by Jesus was made capable of realization. Nevertheless, probably in no other convent in which she had been, with the exception of Plock, did she have such very difficult and h a rd to bea r conditions a t work, increased a t times by the spite of a couple of nuns who disliked her. So Vilnius was a t one and the same time for her both 185