Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

back. She told us: "My dear children, I don ’t come to take the sisters out for a walk." We understood that S ister Faustina would not be coming back to us and we cried." (H. Owar). The ir fear was justified. S is te r F au s tin a did not re tu rn to Vilnius. C. The Poor When working in the k itchen or th e garden, S ister F au s tin a had little opportunity to have contact with the outside world. I t only happened on those occasions when she took the place of some s is te r whose duties led to contacts with people outside the convent. However, twice within h e r religious life she h ad the chance to make contact with th e poor in h e r own sphere of work. The f irs t time was in Plock in 1931-1932, and the second in Cracow in 1937-1938. In Plock S is te r F au s tin a for some time served customers in the bakery shop. Unfortunately , we have no pa rticu la rs from th is period of h e r work. S ister Ju s t in e throws th e only ligh t on S is te r F au s tin a serving the people coming to buy b read , in one sho rt sentence:" I hea rd th a t when she worked in our bakery shop in Plock, she was generally liked by our customers as a very p leasan t s is te r who was k ind to everyone." This of course was no t really contact with the tru ly poor. I t was only when working as ga tekeeper in Cracow th a t S is te r F au s tin a had the chance to become acquainted with poverty sufficiently to see th e problems i t presented , no t only corporal b u t spiritual. Many poor people knocked a t th e convent ga te in hope of alms, and they received them . The Congrega­ tion tried to practise mercy in th is sector, according to its Rule. 445