Before we tackle that question … who framed that question?
- Bill Gates
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Marshall McLuhan
- RBG
- Carlos Acutis
Raise your hand if you picked Carlos Acutis!
Huh?
Who is Carlos Acutis?
On October 10, 2020 Carlos became the first millennial to be named “Blessed”, the last step before being proclaimed a Saint. He would be millennials first saint. Born in 1991, Carlos lived only 15 years before he died of leukemia in 2009.
He is known for his mastery of computer technology, spending his spare time designing a still online exhibition about Eucharistic Miracles around the world. He had cataloged each case since he was eleven.) He also cataloged the apparitions of Our Lady and designed websites for local clergy.
Why is Carlos proposed as a model?
He is presented as a role model for youth, a “saint of the ordinary,” and also a possible patron saint for IT workers. All this despite some disciplinary notes in the future saint’s middle school record: “Acutis disturbs the class and doesn’t have his homework” … “Acutis clowns around.”
But Acutis also worried about those friends of his whose parents were divorcing and so he would invite those friends to his home to support them. He defended the rights of the disabled especially at school when bullies mocked them. He loved traveling, especially Assisi.
He contracted leukemia and offered his pain for both Pope Benedict XVI and for the Universal Church. “I offer all the suffering I will have to suffer for the Lord, for the Pope, and the Church”.
Carlos had asked his parents to take him on pilgrimages to the sites of all the known Eucharistic miracles in the world. His worsening health prevented this.
He appreciated Blessed Giacomo Alberione’s initiatives to use the media to evangelize and proclaim the Gospel and aimed to do this with the website that he had created. He also liked film and comic editing.
As he was dying the doctor treating him asked him if he was suffering much pain. He responded that “there are people who suffer much more than me”. He died in October 2009.
Why the question about photocopies?
The current Archbishop of Assisi, Domenico Sorrentino has written a short book about the points of contact between St. Francis of Assisi and Acutis. He titles the book “Originals, Not Photocopies.” One of Acutis’ favorite sayings: “Everyone is born original, but too many die as photocopies.”
He had a flair for memorable phrases of less than 280 characters. “To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan.” He also loved PlayStation, probably a first for anyone canonized or beatified.
A millennial, learning Carlo’s story recently, said “Carlo puts flesh on what a saint who plays video games and goes on the internet looks like. He challenges me to examine my conscience and say, ‘Ok, I’m called to be a saint who uses the internet too. Am I using it to make God’s love known?’”
“Dare to be more!” Pope Francis told young people in his Post-Synodal Exhortation Christus Vivit (“Christ is alive!”).
Carlos illustrated the most famous saying of that secular saint of the internet Marshall McLuhan. “The medium is the message” Carlos Acutis’ life was the medium and the message! He is a reminder to each of us that we too are the medium and the message. Come to think of it Jesus was both medium and message!
Carlos dared to be different!
PS At the beatification Carlo’s parents processed in with a relic of their son’s heart.
Click below for an audio version of this Vincentian Mindwalk.
If you have any doubts about his being a millennial watch this 2 minute Youtube video.
It begins with his mother holding him at his baptism and moves through the various phases of his growing up such as throwing snowballs, about to blow out candles on his birthday and lots of very ordinary things we don’t normally get see about Saints and Blesseds.
“It is true that the digital world can expose you to the risk of self-absorption, isolation and empty pleasure. But don’t forget that there are young people even there who show creativity and even genius. That was the case with Venerable Carlo Acutis,” the pope wrote in 2018.
I guess that, now, I have a saint to pray for my Internet issues and for a certain decision I had to take for a possible Internet project!
Also, I’m glad to see that this “saint of the ordinary” reached his sainthood even if he was not part of any ecclesial movements, as I read on this Italian website:
https://sites.google.com/site/carloacutisbeato/
For me, it’s refreshing to know this! Roaming around Google sites, I have seen a movement that tried to link Carlo Acutis’ name to the names of other beatified young people of said movement. May the “saint of the ordinary” helps us all!
Some are truly called at an early age. Having strong faith in God and Jesus Christ I shouldn’t be surprised but I was. What he accomplished in such a short time is the miracle that he missed. But he didn’t miss it because he was a true miracle. Being in severe pain and thinking of others instead of himself is a true testament to belief in God.