“I am happy to die because I lived my life without wasting even a minute of it on anything unpleasing to God.” Blessed Carlo Acutis
When I was 15 years old, all I wanted was to drive. When you’re that age, you begin to feel your independence. I would pester my parents (mostly my mom who is significantly more patient than my dad) to take me to parking lots and cemeteries so that I could drive a car. I couldn’t wait to get my license. Cars mean freedom.
In my ways, I was an average America youth. Born in 1975, I am on the tail-end of Gen X: the feral generation who were the first latchkey kids. We were perhaps the last sect of American youth who didn’t suffer helicopter parents. We drank from hoses. We biked or walked everywhere. We played until streetlights came on. We grew up questioning, doubtful, and disaffected. Little wonder when we followed the monolith that is the Boomer Generation! They had Woodstock and Studio 54. And my generation was left to clean up after the party.
I was blessedly, perfectly ordinary. I had a solid group of friends. I had a supportive family. I attended Catholic schools for nearly my entire life. Most of the people I grew up with chose to stay in our hometown. Where I currently live, I can walk to the only other two houses I’ve lived in. I’m not exactly proud of it but not ashamed either. I’m rooted here. When I think of Carlo Acutis, I think about how he, too, was rooted in where he was. He wasn’t world-traveled, but his faith has inspired the world-over. I love that about him.
When I think of people like Carlo Acutis, I feel at once protective—like he’s my generational little brother—and inspired. He inspired many.
As a young teenager, he documented Eucharistic miracles in his spare time. The Eucharist, in fact, seemed to be his life’s passion. “This young man discovered the heart of Jesus in the silence of the Eucharist; in the daily offering of the sacrifice of the Mass; in commitment to personal prayer; in the frequent confession of his sins as the path to holiness; and in love for Mary, the Mother of Christ and our Mother,” says Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury, England, to Simon Caldwell for Our Sunday Visitor (OSV).
Across the pond, Carlo’s influence can be felt among America’s youth, too. The Catholic Press’ Sean Gallagher, also for OSV, quotes Mariana Noch about her appreciation for this Millennial saint-to-be: “I liked the way he would bring friends to adoration,” she says. “He loved the Eucharist and also loved his friends. He would show them his love for the Eucharist.” Her brother, Kolbe, echoed that to Gallagher: “He had no fear of what people thought or any of the anxieties that you normally see,” Kolbe says. “I want to embrace other people (like he did). Sometimes, I want to talk to everyone. I want to bring them to Jesus. But then there are times when I wonder if they’re going to think I’m weird.”
Carlo Acutis shows that people of any age that you can be flawed and faith-filled. He reminds me that even though we are one body, we are unique parts of a whole. “All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies,” Acutis once said. He showed the world in only 15 years what it looked like to be a true original.
Simon Caldwell and Sean Gallagher, in collaboration with Our Sunday Visitor, contributed to this blog.
