SAY not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke conceal’d,
Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
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.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light;
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!
But westward, look, the land is bright
Arthur Hugh Clough
I heard an interview recently (can’t remember where, sorry) where someone said that the number of young orthodox men entering the seminaries hasn’t gone up, but that the number of progressive men entering has dropped to near zero.
I will take this as today’s dram of hope.
Despite another survey that claims that newly mounted priests are more Orthodox simply because they are new, I believe through what I see that the new priests are getting better.
Is it because generations are taught to reject the squares in the previous one or is it because there are almost no children in a squishy lukewarm Mass?
Perhaps it is as simple and as awesome as God’s mercy to a suffering Church.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars
Thanks, Don, I needed that.
I don’t imagine a person would sacrifice everything the world has to offer to become a priest in order to continue to live by the ways of the world. You take the leap into the vocation or you don’t. Otherwise what’s the point?