Was Col 1:24 (2nd Reading at Mass) preached to you today? If so, how was it?

Col. 1:24 Now 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,
25 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,
26 the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,

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How was this interpreted for you - did any preacher say, "It is exactly true just as written, because ..."?
Or, "It really doesn't mean what it seems to be saying because we all know the sacrifice of Jesus was complete in every way. So It's only trying to say...."

Or something else?

chevyontheriver said:

Something else. W ehad all the readings, of course, but we had a visiting missionary priest and so the readings got pretty well ignored in the homily in favor of a pitch for support for a school they are building. Oh well.

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That doesn't surprise me. Before Mass, when I looked up the Readings for the Mass, seeing that #2 included Col 1:24, I said to myself and my wife "I have never heard this second Reading passage addressed in a Mass - for this Mass, I'm sure he'll focus on Martha and Mary. That Gospel is easy, and is non-controversial the way most homilists treat it...." Surprise surprise at the homily, he starting preaching on Col 1:24! The true and literal understanding of the passage, however, he mocked almost blasphemously. He danced around in avoidance of the Truth, lest any parishioner might think that he or she might have to suffer for being a Christian (and then, perhaps, leave the Catholic Church for a "nicer" non-threatening place??? After all, God loves us all far too much to call us to suffer! Jesus did the suffering FOR us!)

I was embarrassed for the homilist (the pastor!) - his reasoning was thin and unconvincing; the parishioners, if any were trying to follow him, must have been left very confused. Maybe they left concluding that St. Paul simply was confused.

I shudder to think that many many Catholics of today have never, never heard the full meaning and cost of discipleship. I wonder if some preachers have ever read, carefully, the word of God to the Church of Laodicea, Rev. 3. OR the words of Jesus to the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites-

Mt 23:13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven* before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.

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Lady Bug said:

Sadly, I didn't really get any teaching on this. That "what is lacking" verse always confused me. No one seems to teach what it really means. It seems as if Paul is saying that he is not yet done going through afflictions for the sake of Christ, but who am I to say?

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Hello Lady Bug. I will try to respond to your post tomorrow - I must leave for tonight but I will try to answer then. The Church is called to preach the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.

Lady Bug said:

Sadly, I didn't really get any teaching on this. That "what is lacking" verse always confused me. No one seems to teach what it really means. It seems as if Paul is saying that he is not yet done going through afflictions for the sake of Christ, but who am I to say?

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Hello Lady Bug,

I'm sorry this is so long - please be patient. God's wisdom encompasses much.

We, the Church, are the Body of Christ. Jesus promised us that, because the world hated Him they will also hate us, His Body, because He is our head and our heart. Thus if the world bought suffering to Him (as it did!) it will bring suffering to us also. The world will bring suffering and rejection to any who, like Him, would reject the world in love for God in Christ.

It is no accident that the Greek word for “witness” is “martyr”, which in common understanding means “one who gives up his life for the Faith”. But more exactly, there are two ways that one can be a true witness of Christ - a true martyr - for the Holy Faith:

1. a witness like the Apostle James, brother of John, who was the first apostle to be killed for the Faith - and a “red martyr” among many of the Church, a witness by his blood.
2. A witness like the Apostle John (brother of James), the only apostle known with certainty to not have been killed for his Faith. John lived a long and fruitful life, lived in total self-gift for God, a beautiful example of a “white martyr” of the Church. [A brief but good article about white martyrdom is found in Catholic Exchange.]

The Apostle John was called, interestingly “the disciple Jesus loved”, or “the Beloved Disciple”. His Gospel presents, in remarkable simplicity, perhaps the most spiritual account of the Gospel, an account rich with nuances and hidden wisdom, pointing uniquely to the supernatural dimension of the work and mission of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Each of the four Gospels is rich and meaningful, but John’s is “different.” His witness and mission were unique.


Every true disciple - martyr/witness - hears and receives from Jesus a cross:

Mt 10:38 and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Mt 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Lk 14:27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

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And St. Paul testified:

1Cor 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Gal 6:14 But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

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And also, Paul wrote of the part of the faithful in the Mission:

Rom 8:17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Phil 1:29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

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For some, his cross brings his physical death. For all, one’s sufferings and cross bring the death of his natural life - his old and worldly life - but the growth and maturity of his supernatural, spiritual and eternal New Life in Christ!

Why, all this? Why is suffering essential in the Gospel? Because we must die to the “old man” in us, in order to live in the “new man in Christ”. ONLY the pure, the holy, the true can enter the Kingdom of God. The old, the self-centered in us, must die. This fallen creation will perish, because Christ came to make all things new. We must come to trust Him absolutely, completely, with nothing held back. Our self-gift to God must be complete, to receive and live in His Self-Gift to us. There - in Him - is the peace, joy, and Glory God made us to seek and to find. God will embrace us for this, the imitation of Christ the Son, and the world will hate us and reject us precisely for that same reason.

The afflictions of Christ will be incomplete as long as His Mission is not yet finished. His Body will suffer as He did until the Mission is finished, when the last soul to be saved enters the ark.