"In God is My Safety and My Glory"

Today's Mass Readings

In today’s first reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, we find this important concept of uniting our sufferings to those of Christ on the cross. St. Paul talks about “filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his Body, which is the Church.” Now, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was the perfect sacrifice for sins, offered once and for all. There is nothing imperfect about Jesus’ sacrifice. St. Paul explains, however, that we can all follow his example by “filling up what is lacking” in Christ’s suffering for the good of the Church. At one level Jesus’ death on the cross has to be applied to our lives for us to enter into that sacred mystery. We do this through baptism, faith, the Holy Eucharist, etc. At a more literal level, however, St. Paul is explaining why he rejoices at his own sufferings. He rejoices because he knows that his suffering is not in vain. Jesus transformed suffering by His own suffering on the cross. Therefore, whenever any of us is suffering, we can use that precious moment, as St. Paul used his sufferings, and offer them up to God as a form of prayer, as a sacrifice, united to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. By uniting our sufferings to those of Jesus, as St. Paul did, we can use our sufferings to help others in the world. Perhaps we’re ill, perhaps we incurred an injury, perhaps we have lost a loved one, no matter what form our suffering may take, we can simply pray to God and offer that experience of suffering for a specific prayer intention, for strangers, for those likewise suffering, for friends and family, for whomever may need our prayers at that moment. It is very difficult to suffer. When suffering befalls us, let us not waste that precious opportunity. Let’s embrace the opportunity and use it for good. Like a skilled Judo practitioner who redirects her opponent’s attacks in a defensive way, we too may redirect suffering by transforming it through the power of Christ and applying it to help others in need.


This does not mean that we should seek suffering, we should not. This does not mean that we should cause needless suffering, we should not. This does not mean that we simply need to accept any form of suffering like abuse that comes our way when there are healthy alternatives and things that can be done to remove such harmful forms of suffering. If we are being battered and abused and can see no way out, this does not mean that we should simply accept our lot in life and accept the abuse as some strange gift from God. It is not. If we are experiencing such brutality, even in ways that might seem minor, we need to seek help and support. God does not cause suffering. One of the beauties of Christ’s cross is the lesson that God can write straight with crooked lines. God can take the ugliness of the world and paint a beautiful picture with it. No matter how bad our suffering, God can use it in good ways beyond the limits of our imagination, but this does not mean that we should accept all forms of suffering equally. We must learn to discern which forms of suffering must be stopped, like abuse, and which forms we do not necessarily need to shrink away from, like the natural suffering which comes from age. All can be embraced in the sense of using it as prayer for someone else. If I am being physical or otherwise abused, I can use it as a prayer for someone else at the same time that I seek help, with the full recognition that have been wronged. The point St. Paul makes is to look at suffering in a new way. Not as something to be avoided in every circumstance, and certainly not something to be avoided at “all” cost, but not something to seek or enjoy either.

Remember that we do not have to enjoy things to rejoice in them. St. Paul is not rejoicing that he was whipped for following Jesus, but rather because God can use that suffering to help others. That is the key, helping others. Far too often, “offer it up,” is used to shut people up. That is not what St. Paul is trying to do. St. Paul is not saying, “Just shut up and stop your complaining, and carry your cross.” Rather, he is acknowledging the gravity of pain and suffering, and then highlighting how amazing it is that God can enter into that suffering and thereby transform it to help others. Nothing and no one is beyond God’s reach here on earth.