Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

But interior acceptance alone is insufficient to fulfill the will of the Lord. In everything concerning the Divine Mercy, S ister F au s tin a was bound strictly to obedience to h e r confessor, F a th e r Sopocko, by the often-repeated and clear instruc tions of Jesus . Thus, the final decision was always w ith Him. F a th e r Sopocko, surprised by th is new project, was awaiting fu r th e r developments, which would supply him with more m a teria l on which to base a proper opinion, and he hes ita ted over any decision. "In 1935 or 1936", he writes, "Sister Faustina came to me outside the confessional to say tha t she was to leave her Congregation on the orders o f Jesus. I tried to disregard the idea, th ink ing tha t it was a temp ta­ tion. Bu t she came to me a number o f times about this. I cannot say a t exactly wha t moment S ister Faustina told me that she was to found a new community... because the communities then existing were insufficient for the d ifficu lt times tha t were coming upon the world... I felt tha t S is ter Faustina, as a simple nun without any material support, could not do this; I counselled her not to leave her Con­ gregation. " (Archives of S.F., Recollections). From all the sta tem en ts of F a th e r Sopocko which have been preserved, i t appears th a t S ister F au s t in a ’s personal conviction th a t she should follow the voice of the Lord was arrived a t independently of he r confessor, and even despite him. I t is an in te res ting and no te­ worthy phenomenon th a t confirmation in the belief th a t h e r visions and insp ira tions were genuine and correct, was given he r indirectly r a th e r th an otherwise, from p riests no t involved with he r , who e ither did no t know, or knew only little, of the background to th e whole affair, such as F a th e r Zyczkowski during the re tre a t conferences he provided. S im ilar confirmations of her belief happened more th an once. They were most 234