By Susan Ciancio
“To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life’s plan.” – Blessed Carlo Acutis
It’s hard to imagine—yet beautiful to contemplate—that those words were spoken by a millennial.
Tomorrow we celebrate the feast day of Blessed Carlo Acutis—a young man who died at the age of 15 but who left a profound impact on his community and now on the world.
Born in London, but raised in Italy, Carlo exhibited an immense love for Jesus and Mary from the time he was small—not because of his parents’ influence but because of his nanny’s and because he was wise beyond his years. Everyone who knew Carlo just knew he was holy.
As a small child, he would pick flowers to present to a statue of Mary. He would kiss Jesus on the crucifix. He went to daily Mass. And then the barrage of questions began. He wanted to know more and more, but his mother couldn’t answer his questions because she had not really practiced her faith. So she sought the counsel of a priest, and through the answers she received and Carlo’s devotion, she returned to the faith.
Carlo was extremely bright, and as he grew, he found his passion in computer programming. Using books far beyond his age level, he taught himself how to program. He then combined this love with his love of Christ in the Eucharist, which led him to create a website cataloging Eucharistic miracles around the world.
He understood that, through the priest, Jesus performs a miracle at every Mass. The bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. They are not symbols of Christ; they truly are Christ. And sometimes this miracle is visible for all to see. There are over 100 Church-documented Eucharistic miracles, and by cataloging them, Carlo hoped to bring others to a deeper love of Christ in the Eucharist.
Carlo used to say, “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.” He rightly understood that the Eucharist transforms lives and gives a foretaste of heaven, and he wanted others to understand this as well. The Eucharist is what sets the Catholic faith apart from other denominations. The Eucharist gives us life in Christ.
When not working on his computer or in school, Carlo was a normal kid who had fun with his friends. But he always encouraged them to do the right thing, to speak kindly, and to help others. He would talk to them about morality, about the sanctity of life, and about the importance of fidelity in marriage. In addition, he and his mother taught catechism classes to young children and volunteered with the homeless. Carlo would often take his own dinner to the homeless so they could have a hot meal.
When he was just 15, Carlo became sick. At first, he thought he had the flu, as it was a particularly bad flu season and all his friends had been sick. But when his sickness didn’t improve, his parents took him to the doctor, where they found that he had an aggressive form of leukemia. His health began to rapidly decline, and he knew the illness would take his life.
Though Carlo was in a lot of pain those last few days, and he knew that he would die, he offered up his suffering for the Church and Pope Benedict. Carlo died just a week after his family received the diagnosis—on October 12, 2006.
As we prepare to celebrate his feast day, we hope that you will reflect on Carlo’s life and on his love of the Eucharist. And we not only want to share some of his more famous quotes, but we want to introduce CLSP’s newest lesson. Entitled Extraordinary in the Ordinary, this high school lesson teaches about the beautiful life of Carlo Acutis and about the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
In addition to the quotes mentioned above, we invite you to reflect on some additional quotes and implement these practices into your life. Reflect on how you can use Carlo’s example to grow closer to God, to truly understand that it is Christ in the Eucharist, and to live with the ultimate goal of spending eternity with God in heaven.
1) “I die happy because I did not spend my life wasting my time on things not pleasing to God.”
2) “There are people who suffer much more than me.”
3) “All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies.”
4) “Our goal must be the infinite and not the finite.”
5) “Continuously ask your guardian angel for help. Your guardian angel has to become your best friend.”
6) “What does it matter if you can win 1,000 battles if you cannot win against your own corrupt passions? The real battle is within ourselves.”
7) “Sadness is looking at ourselves, happiness is looking towards God.”
Imagine what our lives would be like if we lived with this in mind. Let us ask ourselves today what we spend time on. Do we give enough time to God? Do we go to Mass at least weekly? Do we show proper devotion to Christ and speak His name reverently and only in love? Do we live our faith openly and proudly? Do we treat others with compassion and kindness? Do we give of ourselves to others? And do we always strive to learn more about God and grow closer to Him?
Let us thank God for the holy life of Carlo Acutis, and let us live by his example so that we too can one day say, “I die happy because I did not spend my life wasting my time on things not pleasing to God.”
