“Those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ”: he does not say that the suffering of Christ is not completed, but that certain aspects of those sufferings (cf. plural) need to be made perfect. “In my flesh” denotes the whole man, body and soul.

• What are the sufferings, or afflictions, of Christ to which Paul brings (along with the operation of Christ) completeness?
• Are they those endured by Christ; or are they those suffered by the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, other than St Paul?

There are two opinions, each of which has Catholic supporters.

First, the afflictions are those endured by Christ. The Passion is complete, infinite in its atoning or satisfactory power. To this power neither St Paul nor anyone else could add anything. But the application of the merits of Christ’s Passion to individual souls involves a toll of suffering, especially on the part of those chosen by Christ as his ministers (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:9). The Apostle looks down at his prison bonds. His sufferings are in union with those of Christ. They are the vehicle for conveying the Passion to the hearts and souls of men, and in this way, they bring completeness to the Passion in an external way. That he should call his own sufferings in the service of Christ the afflictions of Christ in his flesh are in accordance with similar expressions, 2 Corinthians 1:5; 2 Corinthians 4:10; Philippians 3:10.

The other opinion regards the sufferings of Christ as those of the mystical body (cf. Acts 9:14). St Augustine (*Enarr. in Psalm 62:4*): ‘Thou [member of Christ’s Body] sufferest so much as was to be contributed out of thy sufferings to the whole sufferings of Christ, that hath suffered in our Head, and doth suffer in his members, that is, in our own selves’.

The Passion of Christ, then, is continued in the members of his Body, the Church. This fits in with the truth that the Church is in a real though mystical sense Christ himself. (cf. R.H. Benson, Christ in the Church, esp. Parts I and IV.)

Though the exegete here ‘can advance only with caution’ (Prat), the first opinion seems preferable; it gives the ordinary sense of the phrase ‘the sufferings of Christ’. In either opinion, we are presented with an important lesson: suffering can be, not a terrifying enigma in our eyes, but something very precious, since it is the instrument God chose to redeem us, and we can make our sufferings serve in the cause of Christ’s Passion. cf. Romans 8:18, 28; cf. § 900b.(‘An Old Man’s Jottings’ by Joseph Rickaby, S. J., 231):

‘Suffering, merely as such, does not sanctify. It did not sanctify the Bad Thief. The wicked in hell suffer but are not made holy. The only suffering that sanctifies is suffering patiently borne for God, suffering accepted in obedience to God’s will, suffering hallowed by the obedience of Him who was

• “Made obedient even to the death of the Cross” (Philippians 2:8).

The obedience of comfort is good, but the obedience of suffering is heroic. And God requires it, sooner or later, of everyone. You may be gold, but you must be stamped with the cross to pass as current coin for Heaven.’

Leahy, D. J., “The Epistle to the Colossians,” in A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, ed. by Bernard Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe (Toronto; New York; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1953), p. 1135.