Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

these confused those around h e r in th e convent. Even h e r superior, Mother Irene Krzyzanowska, very kindly disposed toward S ister Fau s tina , and th e only one who knew of he r complicated sp iritua l life, so different from th a t of all the o ther sisters , was m istaken in her app ra isa l both of the sufferings themselves and of th e ir na tu re . The picture p resen ted by S is te r F au s tina m us t have confused them , for they did no t have the key to h e r soul. This was hidden before others who realized almost no th ing of how the illness had become the raw m a teria l of h e r sp iritua l life. As h e r physical s treng th left her, h e r sp iritua l s treng th rose in inverse propor­ tion. Meanwhile the disease overwhelmed h e r body entirely, and all he r vital forces had to be mobilized to counteract the exhausting symptoms. The whole year 1938, almost from the very beginning, was concentrated solely in a constan t and exhausting struggle with them. S is te r F au s tina ’s p rayer underw en t a change: from verbal and meditative, i t became a p raye r of suffering. Almost exclusively i t was now the acceptance and oblation of pa in suffered, b rough t to Je su s with the reques t th a t He would deign to include i t in th e total of His suffering which had redeemed the world. The pains had various causes, and were no t con­ nected with each other. To those caused by the disease were joined others - no t infrequen tly - of a mystical na tu re . S ister A. recalls one kind: "Sister Faustina several times had some pains which were physical and internal, the cause o f which could not be determined by the doctor who was called. S ister Faustina afterwards told S ister A. who was infirmarian, tha t no one could cure her o f these pains, because she was suffering for those mothers who destroy their unborn babies." (Archives of S.F.., Recollections). Another kind of suffering with a mystical na tu re is recorded by S ister F au s tina in the Diary: 288