On the solemnity of Christ the King seated on the “throne” of the cross, we shall try to look at pain and suffering from within the Church, the Body of Christ. 

Looking at what unfolds on Mount Calvary, seeing three people suffering excruciating pain and dying in a most horrific fashion, all fair-minded persons would conclude that only the thief on the right and the thief on the left of Jesus are receiving retribution for their misdeeds and crimes. 

However, they would be at a total loss to explain why Jesus is suffering after having spent his entire public life loving everyone and doing good to countless people.  

Contemplating our King on the cross from within the Body of Christ, we are guided to reach unsuspected and surprising conclusions. 

Suffering is inevitable. I do not have to prove this at all as we are all touched by it very often. Just watch the news. Just read the newspapers.  

Suffering can strike anyone, anytime, anyhow, and for an unpredictable length of time. WHY? 

Because suffering, being the main consequence of sin (which is the most irrational thing a human being can do) can affect in a most painful way nature and many within the human family, even thousands of miles away from where a sin is committed. 

The book of Genesis tells us that not only innocent people are affected by sin; but all nature, all creatures are adversely influenced and struck. 

In the Body of Christ, we are in the best position to reduce sinning, to overcome sin, to endure our share of sufferings and to draw closer to those who suffer. 

There is a prayer in the rite of Baptism that goes unnoticed and unappreciated. Here it is. 

…as Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.  

Through Baptism, day in and day out, we are adequately equipped to act in a way becoming of our divine calling and to deal with suffering, (ours and other people’s) in a way that imitates our King on the cross. 

There are, basically, three ways of reacting to suffering. 

There are those who crumble under the weight of pain. 

The discomfort, the indignities and all the rest that accompanies pain often combined with a sense of powerlessness and hopelessness make the whole predicament unbearable. Some start considering what is misnamed “death with dignity” as the only way out of an unbearable situation. 

They do not see anything positive in their intense suffering.  

They do not accept approaching death as the last phase of life on this earth and cannot find the courage and the faith needed to help themselves through the toughest challenge of their life yet. 

Then, there are those who clam up. They isolate themselves from relatives and friends; they refuse closeness; they collapse in an embarrassing way and end up wallowing in self-pity and bitterness. 

Finally, there are those who live out their Christian dignity as priests, prophets and royals, conducting themselves like their King on the cross. 

They are sustained by the Sacraments, by God’s Word of life, by prayer and by the knowledge that their courageous and docile acceptance of suffering and pain acquires infinite value for the benefit of the whole Body of Christ.  

With unshakeable hope they embrace their cross with the same attitude shown and lived out by St. Paul: 

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. Colossians 1:24 

Rather than succumbing to helplessness and powerlessness, they endure with courage and faith their share of sufferings until the Lord, the Author of all life, calls them to himself. 

Rather than clamming up and feeling sorry for themselves, imitating Christ, they can soar above their pain to bring comfort and reassurance to others. 

“Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 

This is the group to which we want to belong, today, on the solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe, and for the rest of our life. 

We resolve to live in Christ, sustained by the same love that the Father had for his Son on the cross and awaiting with undimmed hope our resurrection into eternal, endless Life.