It’s fitting that the Lord would raise up a Saint, in His Divine providence, that would show us the way to him in the midst of our internet-crazed world.
For Carlos Acutis, an Italian youth growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s, computer science became a means to loving the Lord and his neighbor. He grew up being watched by nannies and going to daycare at points. He played plenty of video games. He lived a modern life that we can relate to.
On Wikipedia, the first phrase describing him is
…”He was an Italian website designer.”
This line gave me pause. Many reading this have dabbled in web design, blogs etc. Here we see that Carlos was engaged in the common work of the men and women of his time and our times. But it goes on to describe his work…
“who documented Eucharistic miracles and approved Marian apparitions, and catalogued both on a website he designed “
In this description of his work, we see how, through this common form of digital design, he elevated his work to the contemplation of the divine. Out of his love for the Eucharist and his love for his fellowman, he used his talents to share the amazing miracles of God’s Incarnate Divine Presence to the entire world. Through the internet, he did this in a way that no other declared Saint I know of ever had the opportunity to do before. He saw on the internet the opportunity to evangelize and share the Good News of the Lord’s miracles. He called it an online international exhibit of Eucharistic Miracles.
You can go on and be touched by his work today by going to his active website.
The Wikipedia sentence ends as follows “he designed before his death from leukaemia.”
The Lord had indeed loved him enough to entrust him with the crosses of suffering, illness and an early death – a theme we see throughout the lives of the Saints of the Church. As much as the Lord loves our service to Him through great works on earth, He wants even more that we entrust Him with our whole lives and especially with our death.
This Carlos Acutis quote echoes some of his final sentiments on life and death.
“I am happy to die because I lived my life without wasting even a minute of it on anything unpleasing to God.”
As we share on the internet, build blogs, insta’s, tik toks, etc, we can take with us some direction from our Millennial Saint, Blessed Carlos Acutis. His words “All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies” may sting a little to our modern senses. But he reminds us that “Our goal must be the infinite and not the finite. ..” If we do this I am sure we will set the world on fire and be who we are called to be even in a digital world sense.
Carlos Acutis played his video games with moderation, not wanting to become a slave of its satisfaction. He allowed himself one hour a week on video games. His gaming station will soon be called a second class relic. Imagine if your cell phone at the end of your life was sent to the Vatican to be a relic to bless people with?
Carlos Acutis hits us in our souls again while providing direction…when he says :
“Sadness is looking at ourselves, happiness is looking at God.”
We have created a little craft to print out to be a good reminder for adults and youth that when we look at the computer screens and search for or create content, may we seek out the infinite, point to the infinite, and exhibit to the whole world all that is true-good-beautiful, even when that looks less than Photoshopped.
For those mothers who want to know first hand how to raise a Saint, Carlos’ mother, who is still living has written a lovely book about it.
