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got a regular Spiritual Director she felt blessed and wrote in her Diary, “Thanks be to God that
He has given me a Director; otherwise, I would not have advanced a single step” (Diary, # 981).
II B.13 Suffering, the Salvific Work of Christ, and the Sanctification of Souls
(13.1) Suffering Unites the Saving Work of Christ with the Soul’s Sanctification 154
From time to time, Sr. Faustina entered into the Passion of Jesus Christ, such as noted in
her Diary on March 5, 1937 (Diary, # 1010). She experienced “very great pain,” which she
continued to endure for a long time, but she courageously offered it to Jesus “for the sake of
immortal souls” (Diary, # 1010). Jesus also ordered her to “write all this for the consolation of
other souls who will often be exposed to similar sufferings” (Diary, # 1635). Much suffering also
awaited her as the Divine Mercy messenger, which would benefit souls. Jesus primed her for it,
“Great persecutions and sufferings are in store for you, but be comforted by the thought that
many souls will be saved and sanctified by this work” (Diary, # 966).
(Diary, # 1612): On February 20, 1938, the Lord told Sr. Faustina, “I have need of your
sufferings to rescue souls.” Just like Mary with her fiat, Sr. Faustina responded wholeheartedly
with a brief prayer of sacrificial submission to God’s will, “O my Jesus, do with me as You
please.” Then added humbly, “I did not have the courage to ask the Lord Jesus for greater
sufferings, because I had suffered so much the night before, that I would not have been able to
bear a drop more than what Jesus Himself gave me.”
(13.2) “You are Not Living (and Suffering) for Yourself but for Souls” 155
(Diary, # 67): Sr. Faustina wrote in her Diary that after making her first vows, she started
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155
Ibid., Faustina, Diary, # 966, 1010, 1612, 1635.
Ibid., Faustina, Diary, # 67.
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