Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

throw ing a line to the drowning man, to draw him safely to th e fa r th e r shore. There was a rad ian t s treng th about h e r which even th e most obdurate could no t resist. Who indeed is really hardened in th e hou r of severe t r ia l such as th a t of a serious disease? At such a time, everyone has a moment of doubt and despair in the face of the cruel rea lity of disease and the fa te i t brings. S is ter F au s tin a had found suitable soil on which to practise mercy and to teach i t to others. I t is true th a t a fte r two months in hospital, a t the beginning of February 1937, h e r superior forbade her to be p resen t a t death-beds. S ister F au s tina then wrote in h e r Diary: 7 vACt send to the dying o6edience in piace o f seCf and it zidtt support the souts zaho are dying". (Diary, Notebook II, para. 924). Even the chief medical officer a t the hospital, Dr Silberg, was under th e God-given spell of th is strange patien t. The nu rs ing S isters tell, often repea ting the story, how they themselves were full of amazement a t his behaviour towards th is simple uneducated nun, which was characterized by h is deep respec t for her personal sanctity and God-given wisdom. Whenever he had a free moment, he hu rried to h e r side ward. S ister A., who only knew S ister F au s t in a du ring h e r second s tay in th e hospital, tells h e r story, bu t other nuns who remember h e r f irs t stay speak in the same way: "As in firmarian I pa id particu lar attention to the behaviour o f S ister Faustina in hospital, and I observed tha t although by nature she was serious and had little to say, in some strange way she attracted others and was loved by everybody. Often I met Dr Silberg, the Superintendent o f the hospital, when I went to her. He came to S ister Faustina in free moments, as he said, for sp iritua l conversations: "I come to her for a conference, we talk about various 274