Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

compGshed in you; you zv ill s t i l l remain on earth, But not fo r long. I am zvell pleased zvith your trust, But your love should Be more ardent. (Pure love gives the sou l strength a t the very moment o f dying. When I zvas dying on the cross, I zvas not thinking aBout (Myself, But about poor sinners, and I prayed fo r them to (My fa th er. I zvant your last moments to Be completely similar to (Mine on the cross... (Pure love understands these zvords; carnal love zv ill never understand them . ' " (Diary, Notebook I, para . 324). So Je su s did no t leave unanswered the complaint from the h e a r t of S ister Faustina . Here we have a clear example of how, and to w ha t degree. God respects and takes into account hum an feelings. He explained to her w ithout delay His reasons for leaving he r upon earth . There were, i t appears, two motives: 1) she had no t yet fulfilled all the task He had given to do, 2) she had not interiorly m a tu red for the k ind of death He wanted for His spouse. She had no t understood th a t the moment of death gave he r the la s t opportunity to offer Him a sacrifice, so th a t sinners whose offences weighed them down m ight be forgiven. This was to be a moment of g rea t importance and it had to be carefully prepared for. Finally, to sum up th is f irs t experience of the n e a r ­ ness of death, i t had an educational significance in the sp iritual development of S is te r F au s tin a and he r mission. However, let us f irs t look again a t h e r apostolate. Up to th is point, as fa r as concerned the life beyond the grave of human souls, h e r a tten tion had been focused on the souls of those who had died and were suffering in Purgatory, especially the souls of the religious who had died since she had en tered the Congregation. She knew of th e ir deaths from a d is­ 314