Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

Knowing h e r piety and love of God, we may, however, be sure th is Sacram en t was a key moment in h e r life. The influence of Confirmation may be observed in the la te r m anne r of h e r life. Confirmation defines our responsibility as a Christian , placing before us th e obligation to live our faith actively and like apostles, w itnessing to C h ris t in our lives. For i t to be fru itfu l, however, an essential condition is th a t we grow in fa ith , adding to our knowledge of God and m eeting Him in prayer. Helenka accepted the du ties aris ing from Confirma­ tion as an essen tia l C h ris tian duty. She was obviously p u tting h e r life in order, m ak ing a l is t of duties in ascending order of importance and adap ting h e r life around them . She was systematically a ttem p ting to fulfil them , and he r will was becoming stronger in the wish to serve God. Let us follow more closely th e period of h e r early youth, particu larly th e years directly before and after she had received Confirmation and before she en tered the convent. H er f ir s t aim was to solve the problem of a ttend ing Sunday Mass. She applied to h e r pa ren ts to allow h e r to go into service and earn money to buy clothes to a tten d church. She was allowed to take up a position as maid to friends of h e r paren ts , Mr and Mrs Bryszewski, in 1921 when she was 16. Her employers had a bakery in Aleksandrow, no t very far from home, between Lodz and Glogowiec. Helenka’s f irs t ven tu re into th e world was no g rea t change from the k ind of life she had been lead ing until th a t date. Her employers tre a ted h e r like a daugh ter and the work she was doing was no t very different from th a t she had done a t home. Nonetheless, the period a t Aleksandrow was an im po rtan t one in her life, for i t was th e re th a t in circumstances unknown to us h e r desire to en te r the religious life crystallised into a decision. W ha t could have affected h e r decision? As we know, a longing to serve God h ad been with he r for a long time. More th an once she had said th a t 2 Sister 33