Back to Reflections Three of Athol Murray's Favourite Prayers by Terry O'Malley - 2001/1/30 This day, it happens by coincidence, is exam day for my R.S. religious studies classes and students are required to know three prayers by memory - and if they do not, it saves me a lot of marking. They are cast in bronze around the campus, were some of Athol Murray's favourite prayers, and, of course, teach us a lot about life itself. We examine them in class in relation to heroic type individuals such as Thomas More, C.S. Lewis and Dorothy Day. These prayers are Plato's, Aeschylus' and The Politician's Prayer. Yet they are often expressed in different ways, perhaps not as eloquently, but with the same meaning. For example, a former graduate of Notre Dame, Jeff Ottenbreit ('87), took the initiative and wrote up a schedule book for his hockey team he is coaching at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut (there, currently are Notre Dame graduates: Ryan Bodrug, Martin Paquet, Richard Nauman and Alexis Jutras - Binet ). Each day has a short reflection or inspiration. On January 17th of this month, this calendar stated: "What lies behind you and what lies ahead of you in not nearly as important as what lies within you." Sound familiar? You will see it in June on a banner at your graduation ceremonies and it is a reminder that character or virtue is most important thing you take out of here. You know, such as loyalty to friendship, your alma mater, your Creator, honest effort, a better sense of justice. People were saying it yesterday and it will be said tomorrow. Plato said it this way: God grant that I may grow beautiful in the inner man. And whatever I possess without, may it grow in harmony with the inner life. May I deem the wise alone rich and may my store of gold be such as only the good may bear. On the 11th of January, Ottenbreit writes to his players: " The path of least resistance is the path of the loser." "No pain no gain" - you've heard that surely. Well, this writer of Greek tragedy, Aeschylus, said much the same thing 400 years before Christ. God, whose law it is that he who learns must suffer, even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart. And, in our own despite, against our will comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. And on the 24th of January, Ottenbreit gives his team a quote by Notre Dame Graduate, Stephan Gauvin ('88), a member of Notre Dame's 1988 Centennial Cup and Cornell graduate and it goes like this: "Life is a rush into the unknown - you can duck down and hope nothing hits you or stand up as tall as you can and say: 'dish it out baby and don't be stingy with the jalapenos!" With a little stretch, this same thought is inherent in Murray's prayer for politicians which is just above the doors of the Tower of God and exhorts: With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessings and his help, but knowing that here on earth, God's work must truly be our own.