Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

is you who zvilC cause ‘Me this pain i f you leave this convent. I t is to this place that I called you and nowhere else; and I have prepared many graces fo r you.' I begged pardon o f Jesus and immediately changed my decision. ‘The ne?(t day was confession day. I related a ll that had taken place in my soul, and the confessor answered that, from this, Qod's zvill is clear that I am to remain in this congregation and that I'm not even to think, o f another religious order, from that moment on, I have always f e l t happy and content." (Diary, Notebook I, para . 19). Je su s ’ answer, confirmed by h e r confessor, immediate­ ly ended Helena’s sp iritua l crisis. The young woman calmed down, and experienced again th a t joy and equable disposition which was n a tu ra l to her. Now she knew w ha t she was to do, and she was decisive: if God wanted h e r to stay there , s tay she would, pu tting every effort into unders tand ing and subm itting to the requ ire­ ments of the religious life. Up to th is point, we have seen th e shadows in Helena’s new life. But we should no t leave th e picture in these sombre colours, for i t m igh t lead to the has ty and m istaken idea th a t only difficulties and painful experiences were he r lot in th e convent. We m us t throw some other ligh t on the picture, to gain a fuller impres­ sion. I t is an old principle th a t one cannot know the tru th about ano ther hum an being from h is words only. The picture p resen ted will be fragmentary . I t will be partia l, even if the o ther speaks the exact tru th , and thu s in a sense i t will be inaccurate. The account will show only th a t which the given individual was concentrating upon, th a t which he felt or experienced deeply. This rea lity for him m us t be seen in a more general context, 64