Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

the form o f a cross before Jesus and say: "Jesus, are You there or not?" A n d she would hear (or feel) a voice saying, I am, an d I see everything, which filled S ister Faustina, as she said, w ith peace and joy." S is te r F au s tin a did no t regain h e r normal streng th when in 1932 she trave lled to W arsaw before mak ing le r th ird probation prior to offering h e r perpe tua l vows. Weakness was now a daily occurrence. For the five non th s the probation lasted , she worked in the clothing store with S ister Z., who openly complained of the lse lessness of h e r helper: "I was displeased, because I was supposed to have a helper, but the whole weight o f the du ty fell upon me alone. In addition I could not use her for any heavier work, because she went to bed and could do no more, because she was ill. God ordered natters so tha t neither could the doctors f in d any th ing serious nor could the analysis o f her spu tum show anything." Since several s isters recall th a t analysis of the spu tum revealed nothing, th e re seems to be an indica­ tion th a t she was not ye t suffering from open tu b e r ­ culosis, b u t th a t th is was a gradua l process which had no t reached the d isin tegra tive stage. The disease had nevertheless overtaken h e r body, which because of h e r intensive sp iritua l life and h a rd work, had not enough streng th to resist. This s ta te of affairs las ted for ano the r year. In Ju ly 1934, a sha rp infection caused several sisters in th e Vilnius house to take to th e ir beds. Among them was S is te r Fau s tina . Every additional infection in a p a t ie n t with tu b e r ­ culosis is life-threatening. I t can cause th e tuberculosis to accelerate from th e chronic to th e disintegrative phase. W ha t happened in th e case of S ister Faustina? About two weeks a fte r she h ad risen from h e r sick-bed, one evening S is ter F au s t in a suddenly became 261