Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth

A few nights ago I went to Westminster Cathedral to listen to a lecture by the head of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. It was the last in a series of lectures under the umbrella of Faith and Life in Britain. A link to this series of lectures can be found here.

I found the Archbishop's lecture warm, insightful and encouraging, and it has stimulated some debate amongst the commentariat, in particular in respect of his call for improved dialogue between believers and non-believers to establish the shared values that sustain Britain's plural society. I was particularly prompted to give thought to his reference to a "spiritual homelessness" and what that means in today's society.

But the aspect of his lecture that struck the deepest chord with me was his reference to a poem he heard recited on the wireless by Churchill during the dark days of World War Two. The Archbishop quoted the third verse of the poem, by Arthur Clough and entitled Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth:

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

The Cardinal said Christians today may feel that our faith and our witness are not making headway and that they are like 'the tired waves, vainly breaking'. But it also struck me as an appropriate source of solace and encouragement to everyone who may feel that their efforts on behalf of a cause important to them appear to be making little or no headway.