Carlo Acutis died at the age of 15 of a galloping leukaemia, leaving in the memory of all those who knew him a great feeling of emptiness and great admiration for his brief but intense testimony of authentic Christian life.
From the day he received his First Communion at the age of 7, he never missed an appointment with daily Holy Mass. He always tried, either before or after the Eucharistic celebration, to pause before the Tabernacle to adore the Lord, always truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. Our Lady was his great confidant and he never failed to honour her by reciting the Holy Rosary every day. Carlo’s modern and up-to-date ways combined perfectly with his profound Eucharistic life and Marian devotion, which helped to make him that very special boy who everyone admires and loves.
To quote Carlo’s own words: “Our goal must be the infinite and not the finite. The Infinity is our homeland. We are always expected in Heaven”. Another phrase of his was: “All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies”. To move towards this goal and not “die as photocopies” Carlo said that our compass must be the Word of God, that we have to measure up to constantly. But to reach such a lofty goal very special measures are necessary: the Sacraments and prayer. In particular, Carlo placed the Sacrament of the Eucharist at the centre of his life and he called it “my highway to Heaven”.
Carlo was very gifted with everything related to the world of computers so that both his friends and adults with computer engineering degrees considered him a genius. Everyone was amazed at his ability to understand the secrets of computers that are normally only accessible to those who have specialized university degrees. Carlo’s interests involved computer programming, film editing, website creation, editing and laying out small publications, to helping those most in need especially children and the elderly.
This young believer of the Diocese of Milan was a mystery, who before he died was able to offer his suffering up for the Pope and the Church.
“To be always united with Jesus, this is my plan of life”. These few words Carlo Acutis, the boy who died of leukaemia, said outline the distinctive feature of his short life: living with Jesus, for Jesus, in Jesus. (…) “I am happy to die because I lived my life without wasting even a minute of it on anything unpleasing to God”. And Carlo asks of us the same thing: he asks us to spread the Gospel through our lives, so that each of us can be a beacon to light the journey of others.
