“And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.”
If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer — Paul's distress serves the Corinthians' benefit (this defense of his ministry will intensify as the letter progresses). His comfort, conversely, equips them to endure. Ministry is always for the other; Paul's personal trials are subsumed into apostolic purpose.
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