Your opinion on Suffering

Christian, a reader of this blog made a very interesting question: is suffering important for you to get some sort of enlightenment? In my opinion it isn't necessary. As a Catholic, the example of Jesus is quite telling: he traveled all his life, having dinners, meeting people and yet we remember him going though "passion" , nailed to the cross in the last days of his life. I would like then to hear your opinion on suffering and this attitude towards the spiritual path.