Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

SISTER FAUSTINA HELPS THE DYING The shadow of death was draw ing ever closer to the life of S is te r Fau s tina , b u t i t came slowly and almost imperceptibly. She was aware th a t i t was near, bu t although she recalled the fear she experienced with an a ttack of suffocation in 1934 in Vilnius, i t was no t fear th a t was h e r prevailing emotion, b u t a longing to be un ited with h e r beloved Lord. H er though ts re tu rned again and again to dea th and were never far from it, especially since the time of th a t a ttack . S ister F aus tina had been so certain th a t h e r life was then a t an end th a t she had asked F a th e r Sopocko for Confession and the Sacram en t of the Sick. Death had not, indeed, arrived , bu t its nearness had left a visible trace in h e r personality. The b ru ta l reality of th is moment in hum an life h ad been shown to h e r a t th a t time in all its naked tru th . “Although it gives us eternal Ufe, death is dreadful, she noted as she recalled th a t experience. B u t though she was frightened by the fearfulness of th e experience itself, the fact th a t she had escaped the claws of death did no t leave h e r happy; ra th e r , she was conscious of disappointment. She complained: ’Jesus, I thought you. ivere going to take me." A n d Jesus answered, ' 9 dy -anil has not y e t been fu lly ac 313