Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

th e conviction th a t the form used by the Church (in which we m us t include the psalms and canticles she would know, hymns, and even the method of composing a prayer) was th e proper form, and even th e only way to express th is type of content. Hence, of the literary models other th an ecclesiastical, there is merely an echo of one in h e r verses: Kochanowski, and th a t is only because she knew some of the psalms in his translation . An equally strong influence upon S ister F au s tin a was th a t of hymns. S ister F au s t in a loved to sing. She sang a g rea t deal, un til h e r illness made it impossible, although she did not have a good voice. When she felt too ill to sing, she would b ea t the rhy thm of a given hymn with h e r fingers on the table. When she had become seriously ill, she would often ask someone to sing h e r favourite hymns. She had h e r favourites, a different one a t each stage of h e r life. They were often something th a t gave the impetus to one of h e r own poems. In h e r diary (Diary, Notebook II, para. 994) she mentions th a t when she once h ea rd the hymn, Good night, Holy Head of my Jesu s , on the radio, i t inspired her to express h e r own feelings for Him. This note illu s tra tes well how the melody of a hymn a t once tran s la ted itself, for her, into the rhy thm of words ready to express the mood which th a t hymn h ad evoked in her. If we were to seek them out, i t would be possible to illu s tra te S ister F au s tina ’s sp iritua l pa th with hymns. For example, we know th a t before she entered the convent, when she was in h e r la s t place of service with Mrs Lipszyc, h e r favourite hymn was I m u s t honour Je su s hidden in the Eucharist. In 1937, when she was still working in the garden, the ward Helen Skowrori- ska often sang, a t h e r request, I long for You, merciful Lord. The hymn she most gladly listened to in the la s t days of h e r life was I am Yours, Jesu s , for which she would ask S ister A., h e r nurse. 362