Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

she suddenly hea rd th a t Je su s "wanted her to be His spouse" (Diary, Notebook II, para . 912) Several times, S ister F au s t in a h ad no t understood, a t first, the wishes of Jesus . She g radua lly came to know them , in laborious meditation and w ith the help - as sometimes occurred - of additional explanations from the Lord. Usually, however, the unc lear commands concerned m a t te rs she was to act upon. This time, what Je su s had said referred to herself. W ha t could i t mean? - she reflected, full of surprise. As fa r as she understood it, she was already vowed to Him for more th an five years, since she had taken he r perpe tua l vows, which in h e r case had been confirmed by a mystical union with th e Holy T rinity . God had then introduced h e r to His divine love, sharing His supe rna tu ra l Being. From th en on, through daily communion with Him she h ad g radua lly en tered new realm s of sp iritua l growth. Through active participation in His redemptive love, she h ad transformed he rse lf into love, m ak ing he rse lf more like God. At the time of h e r vows, she had once called h e rse lf a novice beg inn­ ing h e r "novitiate with Jesus". This novitiate was now, i t seemed, to end with the to ta l outpouring of God into h e r soul. We now come to a period in the sp iritual life of S is te r F au s tina in which i t is difficult to p resen t her mystical experiences w ithou t th e possibility of error. I t is th e time in which Je su s perm ea tes h e r to the ex ten t t h a t any tangible boundary between what is Fau s tina , and w ha t is God, disappears, as He is in her. She h e rse lf sometimes w rites t h a t h e r intimacy with God h a s its secrets, known only to Je su s and to her. In such a situation i t seems bes t to refra in from commentary, p resen ting only w ha t S ister F au s tina h e rse lf says. The mystical espousal of S is te r F au s tina took place on Good Friday 1937, and was th e crowning po in t of the Passion she had been experiencing with Je su s throughou t th e whole of Holy Week. She has recorded th is in h e r Diary, but, sadly, in only a few sentences. 325