Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

Thus passed th e yea r 1926. The small daily tria ls unavoidable in such a large community and its life were no g rea t problem. The "honeymoon", however, was draw ing to a close. In the sp ring of 1927 Je su s led the soul of His young bride into the purifying fires of the dark n igh t of the soul. Here i t is necessary to unde r­ stand , in the most general outline, w ha t is m ean t by th is expression, "dark n igh t of the soul", or mystical night. I have taken information about th is mystical darkness from the work of th e Carm elite Edith Stein, "Wiedza Krzyza", or "The Knowledge of the Cross", in which she discusses the mystical experience of fa ith of S t John of the Cross. A more extensive tre a tm en t can be found in Pere A. Tanquerey’s Outline of Ascetic and Mystical Theology (Zarys teologii ascetycznej i mis- tycznej), vol. I l l , chap ter II, a r t . II. God makes H imself known to whom He wishes, outside th e ordinary ways of prayer, in mystical experience. "Knowing God" consists of an awareness of Him and of the soul in union with Him. I t is a "know­ ledge of acquaintance", indeed of intimacy, and differs from "knowledge about" God, which is possible for the mind which reasons about God from analogy with created things. An ascetic p repa ra tion for mystical experience, which he igh tens consciousness, can be undertaken , for example, u nd e r an experienced sp iritua l director in a contemplative religious community. O thers, however, find th a t in passive s ta te s of m ind, God also acts upon the soul as He pleases, mak ing the soul aware of His indwelling in a flash of Divine condescen­ sion. A tendency to the disposition capable of th is "infused contemplation", as i t is sometimes called, had been observed by the wise senior nuns who knew S ister F aus tina . God perfects the hum an faculties, while seeming to defeat th e i r activity. S is te r F au s tin a as a young novice was unp repared for the terrify ing na tu re of th is process. Here we should add th a t the vocabulary in which mystics describe these unique, in tense , arduous and 81