She may cook up spiritual dessert on her radio program "Food for the Journey," but Sister Ann Shields, SGL, also has no problem dishing out some meat and potatoes when she lectures on human suffering.

"We should welcome it," Sister Shields said to a large audience gathered at St. Mary's Parish Jan. 15, "sometimes with clenched teeth."

Sister Shields said one must have a loving relationship with the Trinity to understand God's plan through suffering. "Know what God's done for you through Jesus Christ."

Sister Shields said it took her four months of continual prayer and contemplation in front of the Blessed Sacrament to understand the deep love and mercy God has for his children.

She said Christians have a tendency to view their life with God as a business relationship, but "This is a love relationship."

Sister Shields said most of the time suffering is unexplainable and difficult to deal with. However, if we ask God for help and instruction for suffering, she said, we can understand some of its positive effects.

"God is lavish with His grace. If you were the only person on earth God would still have sent Jesus to die for you," she said, quoting Pope Benedict XVI.

Sister Shields also talked about the suffering of God's most innocent. She said the power of the Eucharist can alleviate those affected. "I can't say this is easy to understand."

Sister Shields brought up her experience with a 5-year-old girl who was badly burned by an open flame. The unfortunate accident left her in hospital in critical condition.

"Many times I'd walk the parents to the elevator. There was no answer."

With the young girl creeping closer to death, a priest gave her her first Communion.

"Don't worry; Jesus is coming," the girl courageously said to Sister Shields and her parents in the hospital. She died a short time later.

"A part of yourself dies with your child," Sister Shields said as members of the audience wiped tears from their faces. "But part of God died when Christ was sacrificed. God, your Father, knows your pain."

Sister Shields's vocation and work through Renewal Ministries has forced her to deal with many stories of human suffering. The author of many spiritual books had no doubt that this type of ministry was her calling.

She used the term "redemptive suffering" to explain the strength Christians can gain through tragedy.

Her realization of this came with the long, drawn-out sickness and death of her father. The loss was extremely difficult for her. However the Lord worked a miracle for her that shaped the rest of her life.

"I asked God to deliver roses as a sign that my father was in heaven."

Then a family she considered an acquaintance sent her roses and a message that said; "God told us to send you roses, and your prayers have been answered 12 times over."

After that Sister Shields knew the love of God.

"The most important thing you should take out of this talk is to pray for faith. Suffering can teach you, if you let it."

Sister Shields said understanding Christ's suffering can bring others to eternal salvation. However, she also brought up how the skeptical world judges those who suffer. "The world tells us that worth is judged by what you've done," she explained.

The world blames suffering on either a person's problems or an ungrateful God. The world has little respect for those who bring "redemptive suffering" to others as a witness of Christ, she said, but God doesn't judge a person's worth on those types of superficial views.

"When you meet God in heaven, He doesn't say to you, 'You cured cancer,' first. Who you are is what's important to God."

Sister Shields works with Renewal Ministries, a Catholic organization that focuses on evangelization.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it