Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

would give h e r a t the r ig h t time and in the righ t manner. Years la ter, h e r uncle’s wife spoke of the f ti o o l n lo : wing scene to one of the S isters of the Congrega­ "When Helenka was about to go to Warsaw, she brought her things to her uncle, weeping so much tha t she shook. B u t she d id not complain, or say one word about why she was weeping. She asked her uncle to take her to the railway station. He afterwards told me tha t when she was seated in a carriage, she wept so tha t it was p it i fu l to see. She was obviously m issing her fam ily and saying farewell to them in th is way. Her uncle declared, "If the tra in had remained s ta n d ­ ing, I would probably have taken her from it. B u t it d id not."" (Archives S.F., Recollections of Mrs S. Rapacka, wife of H.’s uncle). I t is no t easy to break th e bonds with those close and dear to our h e a r ts and to go alone "into the unknown" to which God’s voice directs us. I t is a moment of complete in n e r nakedness. The p a s t has been cu t off, th e fu tu re is no t even dimly visible. Which of the religious Houses in th e capital would wish to open its doors to her? She knew little of th e ir variety , th e ir aims and th e ir activities. The only signpost she h ad - surely unm istakab le - was th a t Je su s was calling her. Yet how difficult i t was to follow. Helenka did no t question the au then tic ity of h e r vocation, God’s calling in h e r soul. Of th a t she h ad no doubt. She would have in the fu tu re , b u t a t t h a t moment h e r fa ith was open and t ru s t in g like th a t of a child, and, like a child’s, uninhibited . H er und e rs tand ing was simple and logical: if she w anted to do th e will of God - and t h a t is what i t was all about - she had to keep in constan t contact with God. She therefore concentrated all th e streng th of h e r soul on th is one problem - to unde rs tand the will of God properly, and to do it. She prayed intensively 43