“With God, all things are possible.” - Matthew 19:26
Reflections on Catholic Education
“Nothing is impossible for God.” The young visiting priest strode up and down the aisle in giving a spirited homily to my entire Catholic elementary school.
He asked a question of us students. “What’s something that’s difficult for you to do?”
My hand shot up. There were lots of things that were difficult about third grade, but when he pointed to me, I chose, “Carrying my math book home in my backpack.”
The priest chuckled. “You may want to talk to your teacher about that, but remember—nothing is impossible for God.”
Catholic education puts that omnipotent God at its center. So at its core, Catholic education believes that nothing is impossible. There’s a lot about school that’s difficult. Lessons seem to get harder every year, questions push boundaries we thought we had defined, friendships get formed and broken and re-created. But when God is at the center of our learning, it reminds us that nothing is impossible. With His help, we can edit that paragraph, explore those questions, mend the bonds of broken friendship. It takes some sacrifice, some risk, some trial and error. Yet by following His example, the overall experience is one that forms our souls as well as our minds, empowering us to strive for the ultimate impossibility—“be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48).
So nothing is impossible in a Catholic education—including carrying heavy math books home!
Mrs. Emily Valle found her vocation for teaching and evangelizing when she became a teacher for her parish’s religious education program at the age of sixteen. Since then, she has never been without a classroom of some sort! Prior to coming to Mount Royal Academy, she had experience as a youth minister, children's author, and even as a youth missionary in the UK. She holds a degree in Creative Writing and English with a minor in Mathematics from Southern New Hampshire University. She now lives in Newport, NH with her husband and they look forward to many happy years with this community!