Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

spring in 1934, F a the r Sopocko was away for quite a time. F irs t he wen t to the Holy Land for a few weeks, then he was in Warsaw defending a post-doctoral thesis before taking the degree of "Docent”. During his absence, S ister F au s tina ’s doubts in the t ru th of all th a t she had experienced grew more severe. Sa tan made a frontal a ttack , for the f i rs t time appearing to her, as she re la tes , in the form of a young man. Sa tan a tta ined his aim in th a t he persuaded h e r to bu rn he r diary, for she feared th a t i t m igh t be the cause of unnecessary m isunderstand ings and troubles. When he re tu rned to Vilnius, F a th e r Sopocko was able to to convince h e r th a t she had fallen victim to the lying words of the evil spirit, and h e r confessor categorically ordered h e r to re-write h e r diary and to continue to write it, b u t a trace of all these experiences remained in he r soul. Perhaps i t was only a shadow of h e r former fears, b u t neverthe less i t did continue to to rm en t and depress her. I t was no t so easy to extin­ guish all h e r troublesome doubts, when they constantly recurred in those around her. Despite h e r own efforts, she seemed incapable of comprehending the full sig­ nificance of he r revelations. Each successive question posed by he r sp iritua l director again left h e r helpless and confused. Once more she had to ask Je su s for an explanation. As usual, she en tru s ted Him with th is trouble too: "(November 5, 1934. One morning, when i t was my duty to open the gate to (et out our people who deliver bahedgoods, I entered the little chapel to visit Jesus fo r a minute and to renew the intentions o f the day. foday, Jesus, I offer yo u a ll my sufferings, mortifications and prayers fo r the intention o f the Jloly fa ther , so that he may approve the fe a s t o f Mercy. (But, Jesus, I have one more word to say to fo u : I am very surprised that f o u 202