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According to Sr. Faustina’s Confessor, “There are three degrees in the accomplishment
of God’s will: in the first, the soul carries out all rules and statutes pertaining to external
observance; in the second degree, the soul accepts interior inspiration and carries them out
faithfully; in the third degree, the soul, abandoned to the will of God, allows Him to dispose of it
freely, and God does with it, as He pleases, and it is a docile tool in His hands.”
According to her Confessor, on assessing Sr. Faustina at that time; basically, she was, “at
the second degree in the accomplishment of God’s will,” that she “had not yet reached the third
degree, but… should strive to attain it.” The Priest’s words penetrated the depths of her soul and
it “did not surprise” her. She was thankful to God that this “chosen person” understood what was
going on in the deepest recesses of her soul.
(2.4) “From Today on, I Do the Will of God…Always, and in Everything” 227
(Diary, # 372): After attending an eight-day retreat, in the evening of February 4, 1935,
after the conference, Jesus told Sr. Faustina:
I am with you. During this retreat, I will strengthen you in peace and in courage
so that your strength will not fail in carrying out My designs. Therefore, you will
cancel out your will absolutely in this retreat and, instead, My complete will shall
be accomplished in you. Know that it will cost you much, so write these words on
a clean sheet of paper: ‘From today on, my own will does not exist,’ and then
cross out the page. And on the other side write these words: ‘From today on, I do
the will of God everywhere, always, and in everything.’ Be afraid of nothing; love
will give you strength and make the realization of this easy (Diary, # 372).
Subsequently, as Jesus instructed her, on February 4, 1935, Sr. Faustina posted two blank
pages in her Diary. The first page was crossed out, with scanty writing, in the middle of the page,
which said, “From today on my own will does not exist.” Then, at the bottom of the first page,
she wrote on her divine encounter with the Lord, “The moment I knelt down to cross out my own
227
Ibid., Faustina, Diary, # 372.
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