Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

M a tters of hea lth and sp iritual problems in connec­ tion with i t were discussed by S ister F au s tina no t only with the doctor, b u t also with h e r confessor. We find a reflection of th is in h e r Diary in a note for 22nd Janu a ry , 1937: “‘Today the doctor decided that I am not to go to Mass, hut only to Tfofy Communion. I wanted very much to assist a t Mass, hut my confessor, in agreement w ith the doctor, told me to ohey."It is f o d ’s zvill, Sister, that you should g e t well, and you must not undertake mortifications o f any kind. ‘Be obedient, Sister ...” (Diary, Notebook II, para . 894). From the answer of the chaplain, we may conclude th a t in this m a tter, which was difficult for him, Dr Silberg only took his final medical decision in many cases after consulting S ister F au s tin a ’s confessor. A fortn igh t after she arrived home, S is ter F au s tina became very much worse, and again had to take to he r bed. She was evidently su rp rised by th is re tu rn of he r illness. She had believed she was ge tting be tter, and had once more taken up h e r plan of founding the Congregation asked for by Je su s , when she was again overtaken by physical weakness: "My spirit is eager to do Qod’s worku hut physical strength has left me... On Sunday, A p r il 11, I suddenly became so very i l l ... that I had to go to bed. The coughing racked me so much that i t seemed to me that i f this repeats a f e w more times, i t zvill surely he the end o f me. On A p r il 14, I f e l t so had that I barely managed to g e t up to assist a t “Holy Mass. I f e l t much worse than I d id at the time they sent me fo r treatment. There 280