The Recently Ingested Quote

One of the things I think Jesus is doing is setting us free from the heavy yoke of an oppressive way of life. I know plenty of people, both rich and poor, who are suffocating from the weight of the American dream, who find themselves heavily burdened by the lifeless toil and consumption we put upon ourselves. This is the yoke we are being set free from. The new yoke is still not easy (it’s a cross, for heaven’s sake), but we carry it together, and it is good and leads us to rest, especially for the weariest traveler.

In fact, if our lives are easy, we must be doing something wrong. Momma T also used to say, “Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love more.” My friend Brooke, with whom I went to India and later started the Simple Way, used to have the words “Simple but not easy” painted on her wall. And at one point, when things were particularly difficult, I graffitied over them, changing it to “Simple and hard as crud.” Dorothy Day of the Catholic worker movement understood this well. She said, “Love is a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, but it is the only answer.” This love is not sentimental but heart-wrenching, the most difficult and the most beautiful thing in the world.

- Shane Clairborne, The Irresistible Revolution