Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

But here we are in for a surprise. S is te r F au s tin a ’s project was worked out for a contemplative congrega­ tion, and meanwhile we also learn from F a the r Sopocko th a t the religious family proposed by S is ter F aus tina was to have th ree branches: "1. A pen iten tia l congregation,enclosed, situated in parishes, and composed o f not many members; 2. A congregation including members o f the laity with three vows or promises, without communal life (for unmarried women); 3. A congregation including lay persons, even married women, also living in the world, without communal life." (Archives of S.F., Recoil.). Unfortunately, F a th e r Sopocko did no t recall e ither the exact time when S ister F au s tin a spoke of th is to him, nor any details. In everything which concerns the proposed congregation we are left in the twilight, for there a re in th is m a tter, too, a num ber of things left unsaid: above all, i t cannot be established w he ther the full concept developed over a period of time, or whether it was fully formed a t once, and i t was only th a t S ister Fau s tina did no t finish working on i t before being transfe rred to Cracow. We can find more detailed da ta in h e r diary, b u t not un til the en try under 27th June 1937. At th a t date, S ister F au s t in a was already serious­ ly ill, .which na tu ra lly has an effect on the clarity of h e r text. The thoughts, expressed through a haze of suffering and the exhaustion of h e r illness, a re u n ­ finished and break off, and the various th read s are interm ingled. I t is as if she is supplementing something which had already been clearly formulated earlier. Bu t le t us re tu rn to the in terio r experiences of Sister Faustina . The struggle with h e rse lf was not sterile; one small victory led to ano ther, and h e r sp iritua l a ttitude slowly changed. She was sufficiently in te lligen t to realise in w ha t a paradoxically difficult s itua tion she was placed. On the one hand , Je su s was more and 242