Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

Lord. I trust in you , O merciful Qod, and I zvish to be the f ir s t to manifest to y o u that confidence zvhich yo u demand o f souls."... One thing alone holds me baclu and that is holy obedience. O my Jesus, yo u urge me on the one hand and hold me bacl^and restrain me on the other. In this, too my Jesus, may yo u r holy zvill be done." (Diary,Notebook I, para . 615). Despite h e r complete in te r io r readiness. S ister F au s tin a was not, however, able to conquer herse lf sufficiently to take the step of leaving h e r beloved Congregation of h e r own free will. She was wa iting for circumstances which would fac ilita te i t for her. Her superior, though full of goodwill, felt helpless. For the problem presented difficulties no t only for S ister Faustina . Her superiors, too, did no t know how to find a solution to the situa tion . The Congregation had absolutely no reason to expel her. On the contrary, she was a very positive element w ithin it. The m a t te r could no t be resolved a t th e level of the convent in Vilnius. At th e end of March, 1936, the Superior General tran s fe rred h e r from Vilnius, and, after some weeks in Walendow and in Derdy, S is te r F au s tin a went pe r­ manen tly to Cracow. M a tters now began to move fast. In the second h a lf of Ju n e of th a t yea r S ister F au s t in a told F a the r Andrasz th a t she had taken a final decision w ithout waiting for his approval: she would leave the Congrega­ tion and take the f irs t steps towards founding a new congregation. F a the r Andrasz did no t oppose her: '!TQiozv that these are hard a n d difficult things, you r principal spiritual director is the Sloly Spirit. We can only give direction to these inspirations, but your real director is the 9Loly Spirit. I f you yourself have decided to leave, Sister, I neither prohibit nor order you to do so. 245