Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

together with the courage to do w ha t she though t was right. Although she was easy to get along with and obliging by na tu re , she was ne ithe r tim id nor shy, and she did not adm it of compromise. She had loved prayer since she was a child. She knew all th e para liturg ical devotions - which were very popular among country folk - and she was pleased to take p a r t in them , b u t a t the same time she made h e r own personal prayers, which became more im po rtan t to h e r as she grew older. Her silent p rayer was not only Christocentric, b u t had a sacramental character: it was composed of two parts; on the one hand there was adoration, and on the other there was a form of pe rm anen t contact on everyday m a tte rs with Je su s hidden in th e Blessed Sacrament. In seeking God, Helenka, led by sure sp iritua l instinct, did no t find Him in N a tu re - though th a t delighted he r - b u t in His home, the tabernacle. When once she had found Him, she stayed with Him always. This had probably begun with h e r f irs t Holy Communion, and it is why, a t the beginning of h e r sp iritua l life, we find no trace of uncerta in ty or hesita tion .There could be no m isunderstand ing about the Eucharist. Here God, though concealed unde r the appearance of bread, was real and comprehensible. The Eucha ris t was the essential element around which, for Helenka, everything else revolved. In it, she was quietly confident of Christ’s presence I t was a personal union, an embrace of the person of Je su s Christ, and from i t the wide perspective of the incomprehensible mystery of the Holy T rin ity could be glimpsed. When Helenka en tered the convent, she already had a well-formed devotion to God in the One Blessed Trinity. God was th e pole which a ttrac ted her, and Je su s was the Way which led h e r to Him. The Communion of Sa in ts was not of g re a t sig­ nificance to her. The number of sa in ts she knew was no t large and was of secondary importance. B u t she always prayed to h e r Guardian Angel, and above all to Our Lady, who alone, after God, took up much place in 52