Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

gious practices and all her duties conscientiously, but without anything extraordinary." (Archives of S.F., Recollections). Yet the picture of S ister F au s tin a in h e r Diary, although a has ty read ing can easily mislead, is real. I t m irrors h e r inner life in the light of God’s splendour, full cf struggles, devotion and sacrifice. Only from the Diary can we learn how much i t cost h e r to work on overcoming the self, and w ha t a g rea t sacrifice th a t was. But precisely because i t concentrates upon only certain problems in h e r life, anyone seeking a po r tra it of S ister F au s tina in the Diary would see h e r as if in a d istorting m irro r which exaggerated h e r fau lts and imperfections. J u s t as confession shows the pen iten t only in one light, emphasising w ha t is sinful w ithin her, so the Diary is incomplete in not showing S ister F au s tina in a favourable light. To see h e r in h e r full tru th , we m us t supplement i t by seeing w ha t h e r co-Sisters, h e r superiors and h e r confessors have to say about her. We can only then obtain a picture which does justice to S ister F au s tina ’s personality and gives an all-round view of her, when we can see, not only w ha t she strove to correct w ithin herself, b u t w ha t she was. The witness of those who surrounded h e r has this additional value: i t augments th e picture of the Congre­ gation in which she lived and m a tu red interiorly, and shows i t more universally and objectively th an could the more personal Diary of S is te r F au s tina herself, as she was w riting with a special purpose. 414