Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

For the f irs t few months only, did Fr. Sopocko have any reservations: he checked on, and tested , his pen i­ ten t. But then Fr. Sopocko canno t be compared with any other confessor of S ister F au s t in a ’s. Only he was urged by h e r to engage h im se lf personally in the propagation of the work en tru s ted to h e r by Jesus , because - as she said - th e Lord demanded it. The scrupulous observation of Fr. Sopocko is therefore comprehensible and shows h is p rud en t caution in th is case. At the same time, th is did no t preven t him from highly apprec ia ting th e sp iritua l qualities of S ister Faustina. "I came to know S is ter Faus tina in the summer as a penitent in the community o f S isters o f Our Lady o f Mercy in Vilnius, for whom at the time I was the usual confessor. She drew my attention by the unusua l delicacy o f her conscience and her close unity w ith God: there was usually little to absolve, and she never offended H im by any grave sin." (Archives of S.F., Recoil. Rev. Sopocko, 1948). Thus, once Fr. Sopocko h ad become convinced of the tru th of S ister F au s tin a ’s words, he had no hesitation in devoting h is whole life to th e accomplishment of the ta sk en tru s ted to him by God. Apart from the opinions of the th ree p riests , there a re preserved a couple of o ther recollections of priests, who, although they m e t h e r only by chance, had perceived th e unusua l beau ty of th is very godly soul. To cite them in the chronological order in which they passed through h e r life, they are: Rev. Edmund E lte r S.J., to whom S ister F aus tina wen t only once to confession a t the beginning of he r probation before perpe tua l vows. On a v is it to Poland, he gave th e S is te r th e ir annua l R e tre a t conferences a t Walendow. This was the p r ie s t who was perhaps 453