We have developed a method to synthesize highly charged, monodisperse ca. 100 nm poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) colloidal particles containing covalently linked absorbing dyes. We acylate these dyes with methacryloyl chloride and add these functionalized dyes during an oil-in-water emulsion polymerization of the PMMA colloids. The high charge was obtained by copolymerizing with the ionic sulfonated surfactant COPS-1. After purification these monodisperse colloids spontaneously self-assemble into crystalline colloidal arrays (CCA). We utilize this colloid to fabricate an ordered array of absorbing colloidal spheres locked into a hydrogel matrix. We exchange the water in the medium to approximately match the real part of the array refractive index. This forms a novel submicron periodic system where a body-centered cubic array of absorbers interact with electromagnetic radiation with little scattering or diffraction of the incident light.