Monday in the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, September 11, 2023

Colossians 1, 24 — 2, 3

Brothers and sisters: I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his Body, which is the Church, of which I am a minister in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God, the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory. It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me. For I want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you and for those in Laodicea and all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, to have all the richness of assured understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

“I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his Body, which is the Church, of which I am a minister.”  St. Paul’s words for the First Reading of today’s Mass startle us because St. Paul seems to teach that the sufferings experienced by the Lord Jesus in his Passion and Death are of less than infinite merit, that somehow they fail to complete the redemption of the human race.  This, in turn, can lead to doubts about the Lord’s divinity.  So what does Paul mean?  

Paul sees that it has pleased Almighty God to give to each of the baptized a share in the suffering of his Son for the salvation of the world.  He involves us in our own salvation and also in the salvation of others.  The crosses the Lord Jesus bids us carry are shares of his Cross; they are not separate crosses for each of us to carry alone.  And we carry them not for ourselves alone but for all, and most especially for the fellow members of his Body.  This is because the redemption wrought by Christ does not just apply to those who died before him or those of his own time, but proceeds through  all time until the end of the world.  The work of redemption continues to this day, and you and I have our place in it, as willed by God.  We can therefore say with Paul that we rejoice in the suffering which we offer up,  “in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God.”  This suffering is that which we incur in the carrying out of God’s will.  Paul calls this working of redemption “the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.”  

“But now it has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.”  Paul reminds the Gentile Christians to whom he is writing that though they are not Jews, that the mystery of God’s love for them and his plan of salvation for them has been revealed to them, and through their acceptance of it, Christ is in them and they may hope for eternal glory.  “It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”  Paul also reminds them that in the divine plan for their salvation God has sent them an Apostle to teach them what to believe and how to live so that they may be “presented” to Christ at his second coming as faithful believers.  “For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me.”  The sufferings in which Paul rejoices are brought on by the “labor and struggle” he undertakes in order to accomplish God’s holy will for them.  Paul enumerates these in another Epistle and they include the beatings and imprisonments he has undergone as well as the hunger, thirst, and physical exhaustion that accompany him everywhere.  Nor does he live on the donations of others but engages in his trade of tent-making so that he not be a burden on anyone and that it not appear that he was preaching the Gospel for money.  “For I want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you and for those in Laodicea and all who have not seen me face to face.”  Paul wants these people with whom he does not have a personal connection except through faith to know that his sufferings in prison in faraway Rome benefit them and that he offers them freely for them.  He does this to show them his love for them and his commitment, as an Apostle for their salvation: “hat their hearts may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, to have all the richness of assured understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

So many people have labored for our salvation.  Some of them are parents or other members of our families.  Some may be friends, priests, and teachers.  But others we will only meet in heaven: men and women religious, living behind the cloister, and those suffering persecution for the sake of Christ.  May we also take up the work of prayer and labor which the Lord sets out for us so that in doing our part in his plan, we may glorify him and come to rest in his arms.