Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

not said the JAves during Odoly Mass or ‘Benediction. Once, I made the novena zvhile tying in the hospitat. Where there's a wid, there’s a zvay. JApart from recreation, I have only prayed and zvorked. I have not said a single unnecessary zvord during these days. ^Although I must admit that such a matter requires a good deat o f attention and effort, nothing is too much zvhen i t comes to honoring the Immaculate Virgin.' (Diary, Notebook V, paras, 1412,1413). I t is no t possible to establish in which yea r the f irs t novena of nine thousand Hail Marys took place. The second such novena probably took place in 1936, for it was a t th is time th a t S is te r F au s tin a was in hospital. She m u s t already then have had serious difficulty in making such an exhausting novena. The last, which fell in December 1937, was a positively heroic feat. By then , S ister Faus tina was very seriously ill, tormented w ith pain and exhausted by the constan t repetition of a ttacks of fever, although, as fa r as she could, she still worked. In these conditions, when she often had not th e s treng th to a t ten d Mass, a novena which required nine days of to ta l daytime concentration was beyond h e r physical capabilities, and hum an ly speaking, impossible to complete. But g re a t love shows th a t i t can do wonders, and only such love could have provided the motivation. G rea t love in the sp iritua l sphere always brings love in reward. Our Lady replied to the veneration of S ister F au s tin a with a special grace; she revealed he rse lf in all h e r glory, confirming h e r motherly care over S ister F au s tina and showing h e r how she m u s t continue to work on herself: ,(My daughter, a t Qod's command I am to be, in a special and exclusive zvay your ‘Mother; but I desire that 347