Service

 Pope Francis has continually called all Christians to a deeper love of service. He has challenged and called all men and women of good will to live lives that demonstrate the love of God through a greater care of one’s neighbor. At a Jubilee Audience, on March 12, 2016, Pope Francis stated: I would like to reflect on Christ’s words:

Do you know what I have done to you? [...] If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:12, 14). In this way Jesus indicates to his disciples that service is the way to live out their faith in him and to bear witness to his love. […] By washing the feet of the Apostles, Jesus wished to reveal God’s mode of action in regard to us, and to give an example of his “new commandment” (Jn 13:34) to love one another as He has loved us, that is, laying down his life for us. […] Love, therefore, is the practical service that we offer to others. Love is not a word, it is a deed, a service.

It is therefore love that animates the Notre Dame service program.

Ultimately it is the hopes of Notre Dame that every student who graduates will do so with a deeper knowledge of their faith, an experience of a lived relationship with Christ, and a realization of who it is that God has created them to be and the life He has called them to live.