Our Saint of the Week this week, in celebration of the diocesan Year of the Eucharist, is not actually a canonized saint yet.  In fact, he is not even beatified yet.  But he has grown in popularity in recent years, and his cause for canonization is open and underway.  He will be beatified this October.

Venerable Carlo Acutis.

From the official website of his canonization investigation:  “Alleluia!  The beatification rite of Carlo Acutis will take place on Saturday, October 10, 2020, at 4:00 PM in the Upper Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi.  As announced by Monseñir Domenico Sorrentino, Arzobishop-Bishop of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino, the beatification will be a moment of joy for all the people of God.   The chosen date will be close to an important anniversary in Carlo’s life:  his birth to Heaven October 12, 2006.  We remind you that Pope Francis, on Friday, February 21, authorized the Congregation of the Saints to promulgate the decree concerning the Miracle attributed to the intercession of Carlo Acutis.  We praise the Lord in all his Angels and his Saints.  We thank the Lord because He has done wonders.”

Venerable Carlo was just a teenager when he died in 2006 from leukemia.   He was especially known amongst family and his many friends for his inspiring faith, especially his faith in the Lord in the Eucharist…and he was known also as a computer geek and programming expert.  In fact, prior to his death, he had begun working on a website that is now finished, dedicated to the history and other details of Eucharistic miracles in the life of the Church.  (http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/)

“To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan”.  With these few words, Venerable Carlo outlines the distinguishing feature of his short life:  to live with Jesus, for Jesus, and in Jesus.  “I’m happy to die because I’ve lived my life without wasting even a minute of it doing things that wouldn’t have pleased God.”  Carlo also invites the same thing of us:  to emulate the Gospel with our very lives, that we can be a beacon of holy light illuminating the way for others.

Venerable Carlo was a teenager of our time like so many others, going to school and hanging out with his friends.  He was known even as an expert for his age in computers.  His encounter with Jesus Christ fitted into all of this.   He is a witness to the Resurrection, and he placed his trust in the Virgin Mary.  He lived a life of grace and was unabashed to share with family and friends about his incredible experience with God.

 He went to Mass and received Holy Communion every day and passed many hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  His Christian development and experience bear witness to the truth in the words of Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis:  “The Sacrifice of Mass and Eucharistic Adoration corroborate, support, and develop a love for Jesus and a willingness for ecclesiastic service.”

 Carlo was very devoted to Our Lady, faithfully saying his Rosary and dedicating his devotions to her as his beloved Mother.   In sociological terms, this boy was the same as his school friends, and yet he was a revelation of the fact that the Gospel can be embraced fully and proclaimed by the youth.

 His short life, reaching out with the aim of encountering Jesus, was like a beacon lighting the way not only of anyone who met him on their path, but also of those people yet to know his story.  It is a story that will help today’s youth, who have so many issues and are so heavily influenced by the mass media, to reflect on their lives and evangelic values as a way of fulfillment.

By looking at this youth as one of them and as someone who was captivated by the love of Christ, which enabled him to experience pure joy, teenagers will be in contact with an experience of life that does not take anything away from the richness of their teenage years, but which actually makes them more valuable.

 The evangelical testimony of Venerable Carlo does not just provide inspiration for today’s youth but also encourages priests and teachers to ask themselves about the validity of the teaching that they provide for the youth in their parishes and how to make this teaching effective and profound.

Venerable Carlo Acutis…pray for us.

~ Fr. Lewis