Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

rem ained for almost six months in the cloister w ithout change of position. The exposition of the image to the public gaze in the O stra B rama was a thresho ld in the development of the devotion to th e Divine Mercy, and, when we read the re levan t p a r ts of h e r diary, we note how carefully Jesus prepared S ister F au s t in a for th is event. I t was not enough for Him to educate h e r as His apostle. He wished h e r no t only to u nd e rs tand the concept of how His Mercy operates, b u t to see i t with h e r own eyes. Observing how His forgiving love pene tra ted the hum an soul, she would still b e tte r respond to th is mystery. Thus, w ithin a few mon ths of the fin ish ing of the painting , a cycle of visions began, in which the figure of Je su s from the pa in ting took on life and appeared to S is te r F au s tin a as she was working. I t is significant th a t these visions began before the picture was placed in the O stra Brama. The d iary records five in th is period. However, they do not cease w ith th e exposition there , bu t, more rarely , they still appear, and S ister F au s tin a continued to experience them a fte r she had left Vilnius for Cracow. The f irs t vision in th is cycle happened a t the end of October 1934, and probably coincided with the da te of the placing of the picture w ith the B ernard ine nuns. Under th e date, 26 X 1934, S is te r F au s tin a records: ‘On ‘Friday at ten minutes to si?Q when I and some o f our wards were coming in from the garden to supper , I saw the Lord Jesus above our chapel, boohing ju s t as “He d id the f ir s t time I saw dfim and ju s t as Jde is painted in the image. ‘The two rays which emanated from the Odeart o f Jesus covered our chapel and the infirmary, and spread out over the whole world. ‘This lasted about fou r minutes and then disappeared." (Diary, Notebook I, para . 87). 211