“I was moved to tears when…” This phrase has echoed this week, from parents, faculty, staff, board members, and visitors of Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope. It has been said after seeing students receive Christ in the Eucharist and sing hymns at the Mass, of seeing gentlemen students carry chairs in the sweltering heat out to the lunch tables for the ladies, and of hearing about the discussions that are happening in class each day.
Already, students have discussed the difference between wisdom and knowledge in C. S. Lewis’s The Magicians Nephew, imagined the awe of seeing the stars at the dawn of humanity, begun filling sketchbooks with copies of masterworks and studies from nature, and studied chant by Hildegard von Bingen. Faculty have noted to one another already the growth of wonder, joy, friendship, order, and gratitude we have seen in students.
As we approach the end of the first week of our new school, I have been reminded of two other phrases. The first is, “Behold, I am doing something new” (Is. 43:19), from a beautiful prophecy of the Messiah who will be great beyond the imagination of God’s chosen people. The second is from the beginning of St. Paul’s “letter of joy” (cf. Phil. 4:4, 10) to the Philippians: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). It is moving to be part of something new, something that belongs to God, something we know He will bring to completion and through which he will show His steadfast love in ever more surprising ways.
I am grateful for each of you. Thank you for all your prayers and support that have helped make this first week, and all it promises for the future, real. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, and know that you are in ours.
In Christ,
Dr. Robert Duffy
