Is suffering virtous and good?

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ChristMyLife

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If suffering is morall good, would it be wrong to have someone break your leg?
 
Lol, I don’t think we can say with any real certainty that suffering, in itself, is good and has value.
 
It would be wrong. Mainly because breaking your leg doesn’t just cause suffering, it also impairs your ability to move. Natural law says that we should protect our own health, which is the opposite of deliberately giving ourselves disabilities or illnesses
 
ChristMyLife said:
If suffering is morall good, would it be wrong to have someone break your leg?
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Suffering is not a moral good. Suffering is, at best, morally neutral; it can be good or bad, depending on the circumstance.

Self-harm, however, is a moral evil.
 
When people do penance it is a way of learning, e.g. people suffer from hunger when they fast, but they learn how to control those feelings of hunger and they learn how they could stay calm in a situation where hunger became unavoidable. You could say a similar thing for people who whip themselves learning about how to control their desire to avoid pain, but in practice it is not advised to whip yourself unless under the guidance of a spiritual director
 
ChristMyLife said:
If suffering is morall good, would it be wrong to have someone break your leg?
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When a bone is not aligned correctly it may be broken so that they it will heal correctly.

Catechism
1521 Union with the passion of Christ. By the grace of this sacrament the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ’s Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior’s redemptive Passion. Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.
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Suffering can become redemptive if the sufferer offers it up in union with the sufferings of Christ. This intention transforms suffering into something valuable.
 
This reminds me of the sufferings taken up by many saints, and how they offered them up for various causes like the conversion of sinners.
 
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Suffering is not good. God does not WANT us to suffer, he does not want us to die. What is good is our response to suffering. If we do experience suffering, we are to face it with patience and trust in God, because whatever suffering we may endure will only be temporary, and then we get to be with God forever.
 
Suffering, like water, is morally neutral. It can be used for good or for evil.
 
We all must suffer. It is good to suffer well, as when we unite our sufferings with those of Christ on the cross for the good of all.
 
Depends on how much money you owed them? 😁
Just kidding.
Suffering is part of being a Christian. We all suffer in different ways. May God help us to endure, to rise above, and to overcome our adversity. 🙏🙏🙏
 
I’m gonna address the elephant in the room:

Yes. It would be wrong to have someone break your leg. Even if you think the resulting suffering is sanctifying penance. It is wrong and unwise.
Thank you.
 
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