Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

NOVITIATE WITH JESUS The novitiate, which directly succeeded the Clothing, began, for S is te r Fau s tina , in a "honeymoon" a tm o ­ sphere. The days passed happily and peacefully. The novitiate is a school where th e programme h a s two aims: education in m a tte rs of the fa ith , and the form a­ tion of the charac ter to provide a strong foundation for th e work needed to obtain sanc tity in the religious life and increasingly g rea te r union with God. S ister F au s tin a fervidly absorbed the lectures. In m a t te rs of fa ith , they revised the catechism, the Bible and the history of the Church. In lea rn ing the constitu­ tions of h e r congregation she came to know th e essence of conventual life and to un d e rs tan d its depth. At the same time, she was a ss is ting in th e kitchen. H er work did no t clash with h e r studies: indeed, quite the opposite, for in i t she learned little by little how to ad ap t p rayer to th e duties she undertook and to draw h e r work into a prayerful climate. T h a t same sister who described the atmosphere obtaining in the novitiate and whom I quoted in discussing th e postulancy also h ad something to say on the topic of work: "I recall tha t S ister Faus tina as a novice was already working in the kitchen. She was very exact in her work. She took care tha t everything was clean, and pa id attention to how to prepare dishes, so tha t they were tasty. She sa id tha t we shou ld always cook 77