We often receive letters from people who appreciate Sr. Ann Shield’s daily radio program, Food for the Journey. They often comment on her compassion and gentleness. Those qualities of Sr. Ann’s shine through in a special way in her newest Faith Magazine article, Comfort the Sorrowful.

Grief is hard both for the person experiencing it and for the people who want to reach out in love. How should we grieve? And, how can we reach out to help without accidentally saying the wrong thing and potentially causing more pain?

As Sr. Ann says in her article, “I have become more aware in our modern society how we tend to keep the death of a loved one very quiet and think: ‘People are uncomfortable with death; they don’t want to talk about it; they seem very awkward so I will keep quiet.’ Such an attitude can contribute to isolation of the one grieving and can separate a person in their grief at a time when support is very much needed.”

Sr. Ann offers recommendations for situations involving grief and thoughts on “consoling those who are grieving.”

We highly recommend her article, which can be found here.

At some point or another, each of us will be in need of comforting; hopefully, there also will be times when we will be capable of giving comfort.

We thank Sr. Ann and Faith Magazine for bringing light to this important topic. We also hope and pray that, whenever you find yourself in either situation, you find strength in knowing God’s “grace is sufficient for you, (and His) power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).