Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

th e visions came one a fte r th e other. They form, on an enormous scale, a demonstration of the un iversa lity of the action of the Divine Mercy. W ith w ha t mounting emotion S is te r F au s tin a m u s t have contemplated the infinite reach of His Mercy, where i t ga the rs in hum an souls, where it pene tra tes deeply into God’s people and soars beyond space, fe ttered only by hum an will. In these visions, Sa tan also figured. In th is k ind of depiction of the colossal struggle between hum an sins and the Redemption, th e evil spirit, ever bound up with our destiny, h a s his p a r t to play. This was no th ing new to S is ter Faus tina . She had come to know h is fury and his destructive works. She knew well th a t she was no passive observer b u t an active p a rtic ipan t in the strugg le she saw going on before h e r eyes. This could be seen particu larly in the behaviour of th e evil sp irits to her. '‘When the image zvas displayed, I sazv a sudden movement o f the hand o f Jesus, as Me made a large sign o f the cross. In the evening o f the same day, when I had gone to bed, I sazv the image going over the tozvn, and the tozvn zvas covered zvith zvhat appeared to be a mesh and nets. A s Jesus passed, Jie cut through a ll the nets and fina lly made a large sign o f the cross and disappeared. I sazv myself surrounded by a multitude o f malicious figures burning zvith hatred f o r me. Various threats came from their lips, but none o f them touched me. A f te r a moment, this apparition vanished, but fo r a long time I could not g e t to sleep.' (Diary, Notebook I, para . 416). The exact time of th is vision was no t noted down by S is ter Fau s tina , b u t i t was probably on the Thursday before the evening when the image, garlanded by her, was placed in the O s tra B ram a shrine. 215