Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

time easily enough between learn ing and work. She was certain to be useful a t home and h e r p a ren ts were glad to see h e r back. Bu t th is was no t th e most im po rtan t reason why Helenka h ad to break off he r school career. Her sister Josephine remembers th a t Helenka went la te to school because previously there was no school a t all in the area. This was during the f irs t world war, which had totally disorganized life for people living in the war zone. The F ron t went by the voivodship of Lodz. The school was only opened when things came back to normal. Unfortunately , Helenka soon passed the age of e lem en tary education and had to leave h e r school. A few yea rs la ter, h e r teacher was still reg re tting th a t such a clever child had to finish he r education so prematurely. However, knowledge is gained not only a t school during the official learn ing process. Everyone who wants can supplement h is education personally, and such individual and independen t efforts reveal the personal in te res ts which propel the individual down one pa th ra th e r than another. Helenka’s personal in terests had from an early age been connected with God, so it was in the field of religion th a t she tried to increase he r knowledge. When h e r schooling was ended, she began to read more, using h e r free time. She shared w ha t she learned mainly with the o ther children. She had a gift for story-telling, as we have seen, so she collected around h e r the village children, girl-friends from school and he r family, spread ing before them the wonderful world of asceticism and holiness. They listened with in te re s t and she had no shortage of an audience. The young girl was easily fired with en­ thusiasm and h e r ta les had a note of longing for the life of those who had totally consecrated themselves to God. This longing gradually intensified. O ther children were sceptical of he r rap tu res . They were less inclined to offer the small joys of daily life in the difficult process of becoming close to God. Helenka’s enthusiasm encountered a vacuum. Bu t th is did no t discourage her. 30