Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

your suffering to be pure and unadulterated. I zvant you to detach yourself, not only from creatures, but also from yourself... fIhe more you zv ill come to love suffering, ‘My daughter, the purer your love fo r me zv ill be.'' (Diary, Notebook I, para . 279). Oh, S is te r F au s tina understood very well w ha t kind of love God was ask ing from her! From h e r practical experience she knew how to give i t substance. ‘True love is measured by the thermometer o f suffering. Jesus, I th a n l i fo u fo r the little daily crosses, f o r opposi­ tion to my endeavors, fo r the hardships o f communal life,- fo r the misinterpretation o f my intentions, fo r humilia­ tions at the hands o f others, fo r the harsh zvay in zvhich ive are treated, fo r false suspicions,for poor health and loss o f strength, fo r self-denial, fo r dying to myself, fo r lack. o f recognition in everything, fo r the upsetting o f a ll my plans. ‘Thanliyou, Jesus, f o r interior sufferings, fo r dryness o f spirit, fo r terrors, fears and incertitudes, fo r the darkness and the deep interior night, fo r temptations and various ordeals, fo r torments too difficult to describe, especially fo r those zvhich no one zvill understand, fo r the hour o f death zvith its fierce struggle and a ll its bitterness. I thank, you , Jesus, yo u zvho f i r s t drank, the cup o f bitterness before yo u gave it to me, in a much milder form . I p u t my Ups to this cup o f yo u r holy zvid. Let a d be done according to yo u r good pleasure; let that zvhich yo u r zvisdom ordained before the ages be done to me. I zvant to drink, the cup to its last drop... In bitterness is my joy, in hopelessness is my trust'. (Diary, Notebook I, para . 343). 189