Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

THE FIRST FRUITS 7 see clearly that no one can release me from the duty o f doing the knozvn zvill o f Qod. J4 great lack. o f health and physical strength is not a sufficient reason and does not release me from this zvorld that the Lord himself is carrying out through me. I am to he ju s t a tool in dfis hands." (Diary, Notebook II, para. 787). These were S ister F au s tin a ’s words under the da te 1 December 1936, after about e igh t and a h a lf years of struggling with disease. This s ta tem en t expresses one of th e g rea t t ru th s of h e r life. Illness never m ean t a dispensation for h e r in the performance of duty. I t never dispensed h e r from th e responsibility for the mission en tru s ted to h e r by Je su s . In her case, i t was no t to be though t of. She h ad received h e r mission when she had already been ill for th ree years. The time chosen by Je su s to reveal His will in regard to her clearly indicates th a t He took h e r illness into account in the plan of th e apostolate He gave her. The vision of the image of the Merciful Je su s in Plock took place in Feb ruary 1931, and the beg inn ing of h e r illness is dated, according to th e officially accepted version, in April 1928, though i t m igh t be p u t back two years still, w ithou t error. A comparison of the above dates shows th a t S ister F au s t in a ’s illness was, in God’s p lan , one of th e elements for the genuine growth of the work. By 295