yes, you can and should offer all sufferings to God, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem, no matter how you feel about it, even if it seems selfish to you, the sufferings we endure can help and contribute to more things than you can imagine, it doesn’t only help exteriorly, such as saving souls or reliving the souls in purgatory or what have you, but it also helps you interiorly,
…do you by any chance have a spiritual director? i can’t help but notice many of your posts are filled with alot of confusion and uncertainly…among other things,
in which case, i would say it’s not such a good idea to be asking many people for advice on so many things that you will very often get many different answers on…the danger of which is either just accepting the answers you want to hear, or being altogether confused…and so if you do not have a spiritual director, i would highly recommend getting one, if you do not know where to find a good one, i would recommend finding an FSSP priest, you can see their locations here -
fssp.com/press/locations/
if there is not one close enough, the phone or e-mail is also an option, and i don’t think i could recommend them highly enough, they just really know the faith and are very well formed priests, so i can’t think of anyone else to send your questions to,
but if that’s not possible, this is still better than nothing,
but to speak more on your concerns, first of all, if you’re having temptations to lust, that is one area you do not want to confront, i know throughout your posts you speak of taking things head on and not being a coward, but in regards to sins of the flesh, running is the only option, whether that be in mind or body…it is necessary to run,
do you struggle with this sin in particular? if so, i can offer some advice to help you avoid and overcome it altogether, just let me know.
but just as a word of warning, giving into sins, especially sins of the flesh, will not give you peace but only heap misery upon misery, we can never consider ourselves free or in control of anything as long as we are slaves to sin, sin only works to further deceive and blind us, but overcoming sin is not merely a matter of gaining strength over it, it is more a matter of having possession over our own free will, not so we can do our own will, which more often than not chooses selfish things(and inevitably sinful things) but instead we work to possess our own will and have control of it so that we can give it to God…after all, what else can we give to Him that He does not already have? and how can we offer ourselves to Him as long as we offer ourselves to sin? it’s impossible, as we read
“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Luke 16:13
we can never consider ourselves free as long as we give ourselves to sin, true freedom lies only in giving ourselves to God, because we only give ourselves to Him if we want to, but so often we give ourselves to sin whether we want to or not, and that is not freedom…freedom is the power to determine action without restraint…sin restrains us.
as for your question - “Will this be just as acceptable as corporal works of mercy or donating money to charity”
yes, and perhaps more-so, because it is not the works and sacrifices themselves that are pleasing to God, but with what love you put into them, charity is not merely an act of giving corporeally, but more so of an interior grace, charity is an infused supernatural virtue, by which a person loves God above all things for his own sake, and loves others for God’s sake, it’s a virtue based on divine faith or in belief in God’s revealed truth, and is not acquired by mere human effort, but can only be conferred by divine grace…i’ve read that at the end of our lives, we will be very surprised by what was most heroic and pleasing to God in our life.
it’s good that you want to overcome all sin and not back down despite the effort and discomfort, but as i’ve said before, you have to remember that it is not by your power, but by God’s alone, since it is only by Him that we may overcome even the smallest temptation, and when we do fall, it is either because we did not ask God for help, or because we did not accept the help He sent…
but do not become despaired either, because often times God will allow us to fall in order to mortify our pride…to teach us that we are weak, and entirely dependent on Him alone.
well…i’ve written alot more than i meant to, i really only meant to make a short reply, so i will stop here, but i hope this helps, i will keep you in my prayers,
and if you have any questions at all, i’m more than happy to try an help.
