Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

HELENKA’S SPIRITUAL BOUQUET A person does not give him or h e rse lf to the service of God as a b lank piece of paper, for God to w rite on for th e f irs t time. One brings to such a life one’s own personality, one’s whole inn e r world, a cha rac ter formed in th is or th a t way, one’s own clearly - formulated in te res ts , and one’s knowledge - both the officially tau g h t and the practically acquired. One brings in one’s experience, and with i t the fea tu res im prin ted upon the psyche by the yea rs and conditions of one’s p a s t existence: good fea tu res , and blem ishes which m igh t have affected th e young charac ter. In giving the self to God, then , a person offers Him no t only w ha t h a s been collected of the good, b u t also certa in rem nan ts saved from th e conscious or unconscious wastage of our heritage . Everyone has th is double en try of profits and losses in h is account, and brings to God both the s tra ig h t and crooked p a th s of h is life for fu r th e r en tries. God receives them bo th , because He receives the whole person and He is able to s tra igh ten even the most tw isting p a th s of our personalities. Bu t grace always builds upon n a tu re and i t is im po r tan t no t to forget th is when we a re considering someone’s road to sanctity. I t is thu s not w ithou t significance w ha t psychological baggage a candidate to a religious community brings across th e convent threshold . I t is sometimes em­ phasised t h a t i t is necessary to b ring a dowry, in order to be accepted into a convent, b u t money is all th a t is 49