Carlo Acutis, the blessed of the digital age

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08 October 2020

Carlo Acutis will be beatified on 10 October in the upper Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi. There is great expectation; faithful from all over the world will be present, while respecting the strict security measures due to Covid-19. The young Acutis, a boy of our time, was born in London and lived in Milan; class of '91, he is defined as a normal young man, like most of his peers, engaged in school, among friends and with a passion for the Internet. He used technology to testify his faith and help others. In his daily commitments he had placed Jesus at the center of his heart, of his life. A short life lived with holiness.

He died at the age of 15 (1991-2006) of fulminant leukemia; declared venerable by

in the summer of 2018 became an example for all young people in "Christus vivit".

Precisely in this document he affirmed that “through the holiness of the young the Church can renew her spiritual ardor and her apostolic vigor.

The balm of holiness generated by the good life of so many young people can heal the wounds of the Church and the world, bringing us back to that fullness of love to which we have always been called ”.

He is the first blessed on the internet, the saint next door.

“For Christ with Christ and in Christ”: these are the watchwords of the “digital native of the Eucharist”, for his daily participation in mass and in the recitation of the rosary.

"It's my highway to heaven," he said.  

remembers Carlo Acutis and reports a sentence from him with an extraordinary message in the apostolic exhortation for young people: "All are born as originals, but many die as photocopies".

A message for his friends and for himself, to beware of the excessive and voracious use of means resulting from technology, such as computers and cell phones, for which he had also set the time for their use.

In the digital world, Francesco stated in recent months, the danger of isolation and self-closure is always around the corner.

But the example of Acutis is of a completely different sign.

“He - wrote Francis - knew how to use the new communication techniques to transmit the Gospel, to communicate values ​​and beauty”.

“The patron of the internet”, he had developed the virtue of humility: meek of heart, he lived with heroism, and with his testimony he introduced into the bosom of the Church and of society the pure air of God's grace that renews creation.

A testimony that of the new blessed who brings with him a very strong message, addressed not only to adolescents, but also to educators by asking questions about the importance of ethics in formation and in the proposal of coherent examples in which children can reflect themselves.

We met the mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, Mrs. Antonia Salzano.

I remember him as a very nice boy, witty but never vulgar, open to life, smiling, very generous and selfless.

At home we had a foreign lady who came in the evening to iron our clothes.

Carlo did not want the lady to come home late, let alone take the means at that hour;

sometimes he gave her a hand to iron, just to get her to her daughter soon.

With his savings he bought sleeping bags for homeless people, he was very friendly with the doormen of the buildings in our neighborhood, all foreigners who esteemed him a lot.

He helped around the house, made his bed, cleaned his room, although sometimes he didn't feel like it, but he was obedient and helpful, definitely not a big stick.

He had a patience that I would soon lose.

Carlo in a nutshell was a boy who was able to transform his ordinary life into extraordinary, placing Jesus at the center of his daily activities, through the Eucharist.

At the age of seven he received his first communion and since then, every day, he went to mass and said the rosary.

This great love for Jesus poured out into the service of others: he took care of the homeless, gave them food and brought blankets.

He did a lot of volunteering, the catechist, he helped classmates to present their thesis for the eighth grade exams, he organized an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles that went all over the world;

and it has brought so many people to approach the Faith;

he had an extraordinary presence of Jesus.

Carlo from an early age showed a strong piety, already in kindergarten.

Of course what we have done is not to hinder him in this desire of his.

This was very important.

However, we understood that he had a strong presence of Jesus in his life.

He had a strong personality, we never hindered him, for us parents it was never a problem that he had this very personal style of his.

Ultimately, his spiritual life never took anything away and never took away spaces in his everyday life: with friends, sport, study, he was one.

Faith was never a problem for Carlo, he was never ashamed, he lived it with balance, his friends respected him.

In his room there was a beautiful picture of Jesus, he felt proud.

He was very respectful of the ideas of others, he never imposed anything.

I see people who write to us from all over the world, we receive many emails with such devotion.

Currently, Carlo's exhibition on Eucharistic Miracles, exhibited in different continents, is bringing many people closer to the faith, people are promoting the testimony of my son, generating a great wave of good.

It is not that I had been particularly deserving, I have many defects, then the Lord every now and then chooses the unworthy people, as he did for St. Francis, and never writes straight on the wrong lines: for those supernatural ways that we do not understand, he chose us as his parents.

Certainly some ethical values ​​that can be traced back to the secular world have always been transmitted.

However, I was keen on certain rules, fundamental values ​​of life.

But we saw that this faith was somewhat hers.

Let's say that Carlo infected us a little, he was a little savior, he put us back on the path of Faith.

Surely it was this strong union with Jesus;

he had a deep inner life, he was a bit mystical.

He had a special soul, he had a peace, serenity in his face, this being always calm.

When he learned of his illness with great humor he replied that "the Lord has given me a nice wake up call".

He experienced death as a passage to eternal life.

He faced the disease with a smile, never a moan;

the nurse and doctors testified that he did not complain despite the great pain due to his illness.

When the doctor asked him if he was in pain, Carlo replied that "There are people in the world who suffer more than me".

He offered his pain to the Lord, the Pope and the Church.

A great test of Faith.

He faced it as a saint.

Carlo was not the boy who converted because he was sick, Carlo's life sought the path of holiness by glorifying God in material things.

Very often Charles said “Being united always with Jesus is the program of life”.

Death was the crowning of a holy life.

We have two perspectives: secular and religious.

For the religious perspective, being original means carrying out that unique and unrepeatable project that the Lord has for each of us from eternity.

We are all original, just see our fingerprints, one different from the other, it means that each of us has its own originality, has a plan in creation that is special.

Of course, sometimes it is difficult to intercept this project, there are many projects, which are proposed to us from the world.

So it's hard to stay original if you don't stay close to the Lord with prayer.

For the secular perspective, however, the same is true: the society in which we live is sick, we very often chase those who are not true examples of life.

We show ourselves at all costs as if we need consent, we feel insecure;

we are competitive to exhaustion;

there is an exaltation of ourselves to the nth degree, unbalanced.

We live a little in the society of the image and the ephemeral, I always want to be in first place, we must always be appreciated, be loved ... all this does not make us original, we risk losing our nature to want to imitate others at times, wanting to be what we are not.

These are not noble attitudes.

Being happy and simple, and I can say that I had proof of this with Carlo's life, instead is giving oneself continuously, the virtue of humility always applies.

Holiness above all is living the virtues heroically.

What are the virtues?

They are stable attitudes of the will to good.

That is, I get used to doing good which therefore becomes a kind of dress on me, so I then do it spontaneously.

Carlo made a continuous effort, he knew he had defects, for example, small things, he was greedy or too chatty at school, he got some marks, he wondered at the end of the day how he had behaved with his classmates, how to he behaved with his parents ... he made an effort, he always tried to improve himself.

Carlo said “What is a man who wins a thousand battles worth if he is not capable of winning himself”.

We are the main enemies of ourselves.