Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

She also had a devotion to the Most Holy Tr in ity and to the Holy Sp irit. She was very pleased tha t she could talk to me about these matters, as I had told her, among other things, tha t I had often prayed, since childhood, to the Holy Sp irit, reciting the Veni Creator... Her favourite prayers were the prayer to Christ Crucified, to the Precious Blood and the Divine Mercy. She da ily performed the S ta tion s o f the Cross." (Archives of S.F., Recoil.). Let us h a l t for a moment a t th e l a t te r devotion. The S ta tions were recommended in th e Congregation, b u t no t obligatory. S is te r F au s t in a was always fond of th is devotion, and in Vilnius she became used to performing them daily. The Way of the Cross most closely corres­ ponded to the meditations commanded h e r by Jesus . Whenever she could, she said th e prayers lying prone in th e shape of th e cross upon th e floor, particu larly a t th ree in the afternoon, t h a t is, a t th e hour of C h ris t’s dea th on th e cross. This position - much loved by he r - b e s t expresses th e aton ing and pen iten tia l charac ter of these prayers. S ister F au s t in a concealed th is before those who lived with he r , no t w ishing to provoke unnecessary comment. Bu t th e wards would often find h e r a t th a t hou r lying in th e form of a cross in some dark corner, in the la rd e r or o ther qu ie t spot. S ister F.Z. adds to w ha t the wards say, t h a t she also saw he r lying before th e Blessed Sac ram en t in the chapel after n ine a t night, and th u s a t a tim e when o ther sisters were no t the re , or were so only exceptionally, because to be th e re then requ ired special perm ission from the superior. Le t us re tu rn to th e recollections of S is te r B. She fu r th e r re la tes th a t S is te r F au s tin a "liked to hear sermons, wan ting them as often and as long as possible. Her thoughts and conversations were 421