Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

though t of. (This concerns the times of S ister Faustina . Nowadays th e question of a dowry h a s no importance). Certainly, dowries were necessary, and an insufficiency m igh t greatly h inder the realization of a religious vocation. Nevertheless money does no t decide the achievement of the aim, b u t perseverance and patience in the a tta inm en t; in o ther words, suitable t ra i ts in the character. Thus the most im po rtan t element in a proper dowry is the person herself. In h e r is th e bouquet which the candidate for religious life offers the com­ munity, to gain the grace w ithin i t to become the bride of Christ. Money plays a secondary role and concerns only the exterior m a tters . Bu t every community grows and develops by using the sp iritua l dowry of its members, as God multiplies i t by His grace, and the hum an being responds by a to ta l self-giving w ithout reserve. Thus sa in ts are born into the community. To trace the pa th of someone’s sanctity in th e re li­ gious life, one cannot s ta r t research from the moment t h a t person crossed the convent threshold. One m us t look back and seek the evangelical treasu re , or, ra th e r , the "grain of m u s ta rd seed", the growth and blossoming of which occurs in the years of religious life. Le t us come to the subject in which we are directly in teres ted - the life of Helena Kowalska, known in he r Congregation as S ister F au s tin a of the Blessed Sacra­ ment. Although we have accompanied h e r in the preceding chapters, now th a t she is a t th e threshold of he r religious life we can recap itu la te w ha t she had to offer to God, and with w ha t sp iritua l capital she began the la s t stage of h e r life - th ir teen years in the Con­ gregation of S isters of Our Lady of Mercy - during which God developed h e r in such a way th a t she was capable of understand ing , in a new way, the g rea t Christian mission of Divine Mercy and of becoming its apostle. Her general education stopped short a t th ree classes of elementary school. Bu t h e r sp iritua l capital was considerable. 50