Comfort: 2 Corinthians 1:1-7, especially vss. 3, 4:
"...the Father of mercies and God of all comfort...comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted." [RSV]
The Apostle Paul repeats the word ‘comfort' ten times in the seven verses of today's reading. In these verses, he employs ‘paraklesis' or ‘comfort' to describe the nature of God, to connect comfort with suffering - especially the Lord Jesus' sufferings, and to encourage the giving of comfort among the Faithful. Let us read closely that we may receive comfort ourselves and provide it to others. The Apostle uses ‘comfort' to describe God. He is "the Father of mercies," a God Who is "the source of all comfort" and "comforts us in all our afflictions" (vss. 3,4). The nature of God the Father is to comfort, and comfort applies also to God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to God the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus reveals this in His last discourse: "...I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (Jn. 14:15-17). In speaking of ‘another' Comforter at this point, the Lord likewise identifies Himself as a Divine Comforter; One Who will be followed in turn by ‘another' Comforter, the Holy Spirit.
What is this comfort that the God of all mercies gives? "I will come to you.... ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I Am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (Jn.14:18-20). "I will come to you;" He comforts by being present to us. This assertion is unqualified. Therefore, "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from [His] love" (Rom. 8:38-39).
Even in our sufferings and tribulations, He will be present to and for us. As St. John Chrysostom has us notice, our God is not One "‘Who suffereth us not to come into affliction,' but, ‘Who comforteth in affliction,'" Who addresses all affliction by trampling down death by death. He is with us through death and through all else that befalls in life: "ye shall live." The comforting presence of the Holy Trinity is mediated through the Holy Spirit Who illumines our hearts and minds to ‘know' - to experience - a bond with Him in suffering, a true comfort.
Observe in today's Epistle reading that the Apostle Paul stresses the connection between comfort and sufferings. As St. John has indicated (above), so St. Paul asserts that comfort comes from God - especially in affliction (2 Cor. 1:4). Christ our God Who has suffered as man understands our sufferings, for He has suffered as we do, as a mortal man. This co-suffering is most important, for it is the great assurance to us that our sufferings are not meaningless.
We are united to the Lord Jesus, bonded to Him. Therefore, when we suffer for Him, "the sufferings of Christ abound in us" (vs. 5). As a result, "our comfort also abounds through Christ" (vs. 5). Herewith, the Apostle lays down the foundation of the special place occupied by the martyrs and confessors of the Church. Their sufferings are for "our comfort and salvation" (vs. 6), and since we are united to them in Christ, their sufferings equip us to cope with suffering so that we also are enabled to endure "the same sufferings which [they] suffer" (vs. 6). How is this done? Principally we partake in Christ's suffering through ascetic discipline, worship, prayer, witnessing, and by doing all these things in a deliberate, Spirit-led, steadfast way so that we may also "partake of the comfort" that comes from Him (vs. 7).
O Merciful God, may we walk in the way of the Cross to find Thy comfort, life and peace.