Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

Moved to the depths of h e r soul, Helena nearly fainted twice. The f irs t time was when, with the other postu lan ts, she was stand ing before the a l ta r to accept the religious hab it and to receive ano ther name. The postu lan ts knelt, b u t she slipped helplessly onto the priedieu. The sisters surrounded h e r a t once and helped h e r to rise, and the clothing ceremony wen t ahead normally. She became fa in t once more, when being dressed in the h ab i t in the parlour. S ister F au s tina noted the reason for h e r fa in tness in h e r Diary: 'The day I toofi the (religious) faS it, Qod (et me understand how much. I was to suffer. I c(earCy saw to what I was committing myseCf. I e?q?erienced a moment o f that suffering. ‘Bu t then Qod f i t te d my sou t again w ith great consolations.’ (Diary, Notebook I, para . 22). Helena had invited her pa ren ts to h e r Clothing. They did no t come. Her elder s is te r explains th is as follows: "She invited us to the Clothing, hut because the letter was received so late, none o f the fam ily was at the ceremony." Two years la ter, when S is te r F au s tina made h e r firs t vows, both h e r paren ts were p resen t. Still aga in s t the ir daugh ter’s decision, they hoped to persuade h e r to re tu rn home, b u t h e r happ iness was so obvious and she was so rad ian t and in love with God, th a t despite th e ir former a ttitud e they looked a t h e r as if they were bewitched. No. They h ad never met any th ing like this before. "As she is in love w ith Jesus, let us leave her there. Th is is the will o f God," pronounced h e r father. Thus she had not only th e consent of h e r pa ren ts , and th e ir blessing, b u t the ir respect, and even th e ir adm ira­ tion for the pa th she had chosen for herself. 74