Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

carefully garnered every one of its appearances and transformed i t in h e r own way into a gift of the p rayer which she was constantly offering Him with th a t same fervent love. 'Front the moment I came to Cove suffering, it ceased to he a suffering fo r me. Suffering is the daiCy fo o d o f my souC (Diary, Notebook I, para. 276). The in terio r transformation which changed the whole m en ta lity of S ister F au s tina - the passage from a defensive position to one of en thus ias tic acceptance - happened within he r as if of itself, simply through h e r constan t in tim a te communion w ith Jesus . This does no t a t all mean th a t S ister F au s tin a ceased to be sensitive to suffering. But, heedless of th e cost, she took it up in both hands , as much as she could bear. "O you smaCC, everyday sacrifices, you are to me Like zviCdfCowers which I strew over the fe e t o f my 6eCoved Jesus. I sometimes compare these trifCes to the heroic virtues, and that is because their enduring nature demands heroism.' (Diary, Notebook I, para. 208). This la t te r confession indicates the struggle she had with he rse lf to a tta in generosity of sp irit in the m ea­ sure which the Lord demanded of her. Bu t was th is the most im portan t aspect? She h e rse lf writes: ' f o d made kriozim to me what true Cove consists in and gave Cight to me about how, in practice, to give proof o f it to JCim... A n d the Lord sa id to me, 'My child, you pCease Me most by suffering. In your physical as w e ll as your mental suffering. M y daughter, do not seek, sympathy from creatures. I w an t the fragrance o f 188