“By his stripes, we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). From the beginning, the preaching of the Church has stressed that the suffering and death of Christ are redemptive for humanity. St. Paul provides a nuance to this understanding in his letter to the Colossians. In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his Body, which is the Church. It is not just the personal suffering of Jesus that helps to heal but the suffering of the entire Body of Christ, that is us. Jesus never had cancer, did not suffer the pains of childbirth or the indignities of old age, never buried his child or a spouse, didn’t go through dialysis or experience dementia. We “fill up” the redemptive suffering of Christ as we, his body, endure these things. There was a wisdom when Sister in parochial school would tell us to “offer it up” when we had some pain or trouble. In so doing, we find that suffering does not get the last word but, in fact, is merely another tool that God uses to bring us to perfection.
