The Notre Dame Man/Woman

The world today is looking for men and women,
Who are not for sale
Who are honest, sound from centre to circumference,
true to the heart’s core
With consciences as steady as the needle to the pole
Who will stand for the right if the heavens totter and the earth reels
Who can tell the truth and look the world right in the eye
Who neither brag nor run
Who neither flag or flinch
Who can have courage without shouting it
In whom the courage of everlasting life runs still, deep and strong
Who know their message and tell it
Who know their place and fill it
Who know their business and attend to it
Who will not lie, shirk or dodge
Who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor
Who are willing to eat what they have earned
and wear what they have paid for
Who are not ashamed to say "no" with emphasis

God is looking for them. He wants those who can unite together around a common faith - who can join hands in a common task - and who have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. God give us such as them. Not only will they be better prepared to fulfill their duties as a citizen, they should make a better friend, a better husband, a better father, a better wife, because free people do. They will, in short, be better prepared to live, and when their hour comes, they will know better how to die because free people do.

- Athol Murray