"But it would be easier that way!" How many times have you said or heard someone else say that? It is natural for us to appreciate an easy way to do things rather than doing it in a more complicated fashion. The real question, however, is not whether something is actually easier, but whether it is necessarily better for something to be easier. In fact, I can think of many things where the "easier" method is actually not the better method.
Let me just pick on one particular area: pastoral duties. There are many ways that I could do things more easily than I currently do them. That does not mean that I choose the harder way because I do not know of an easier way, nor does it mean that I just like filling my time with busy work. There are many things that might be easier, but that does not mean that they are necessarily what is best for my parishioners (nor for my own spiritual well being).
Take, for example, the Mass. I could probably get by with a 30 second homily on Sundays, and rush through all the prayers and always do the shorter options for the readings (yes, I know that there are priests who actually do that). Would that be what is best for the people though? Many people who are immersed in modern culture will presume that "easier is always better", but the problem is that "better" in this instance would only apply to one's freedom in their schedule. Yes, freedom in our schedules does have a level of importance, but it falls far short of the priority of one's spiritual well being.
We cannot compare pastoral ministry to a construction project. Carpenters and contractors might always look for an easier way to accomplish a task, and that is probably a good thing, but there is nothing inherently better about ease in the spiritual realm for fallen people. In fact, when we are dealing with spiritual realities, the easier method is often inherently worse! Yet that sounds unpleasant to us -- because it sounds hard, and we like things easy. It is our sinful inclinations that are preventing us from attaining much of the grace that God offers to us.
Another serious problem with this "assumption of ease" is that we are Catholics. Traditional Catholic theology does not encourage the modern squishy-soft spirituality that is so common in America. Catholic teaching acknowledges (even if few Catholics themselves do) that suffering is a good thing for us, and that it can lead to our spiritual well being. The easy way, of course, is to avoid the suffering; but that also means that we are avoiding the blessings that go with it. Yes, some things in spirituality may be unnecessarily difficult, so this is not an absolute, but we should never assume that easy is better.
The Mass is one of those places where we should never seek out "easier". I was once describing something in the Mass, and another priest said "there is an easier way to do that". When I told him that I did not want an easier way, he responded, "you do know we aren't in medieval times?". That is the issue, is it not? Modernism encourages us to be "faster, easier, and more efficient" and in some things that might be good, but not here. Medieval times had some things that we would do well to restore.
We are so used to taking medicine for every pain, and running to the doctor for every sniffle, that we have drenched ourselves with antibiotics (and it is now coming back to haunt us). Now we have taken this bad perspective and applied it to our spirituality, and it is hurting us in more ways than we are aware. We have lost one of the best things of the medieval culture because modernism has infected us with the wrong view of the world. In some things, the "easier way" is useful and should be sought out, but that is rarely the case in our relationship with the Lord. "If someone asks you to go one mile, go two" does not sound easy; that is because it is for our good.
