April Drinking Companion

This month I decided to write about Blessed Carlo Acutis, who by the end of the month, will be declared St. Carlo Acutis. I have to be honest, I hardly have a devotion to him, but when I was discerning who I should write about this month, initially I thought about St. Catherine of Siena, who’s feminine genius was inspirational, in addition I’ve been to both of her places of rest, which is intriguing. Her head is in Siena and the rest of her body in Rome. However, Blessed Carlo spoke more loudly to me as a I read a great article on his life. In addition when I was visiting the priest of St. Dominic’s in Brick, NJ, where my business began, he mentioned Carlo’s mother was there and placed his relic in their dedicated shrine. With these blips and others on my radar, I felt it was necessary to write about this young man.

First I want to talk about this millennial saint, who is the first in his category. Carlo despite dying at the age of 15, was a website designer who served his parish with is talents, and eventually the Lord by documenting the supernatural of the Church. He is primarily know for documenting the Eucharistic miracles throughout history. His original website is still up to this day. Carlo was known as a regular kid who liked Pokemon and did other things regular kids his age did. However he also understood the supernatural, teaching others that if misused can cause us to fall away from God into the slavery of distractions in the world. At one point in his life he was inspired by a speech by Steve Jobs founder of Apple. Steve very often talked about seizing the moment of life. Carlo would leave us with a quote that was inspired by living out his and our own vocations. Blessed Carlo Acutis said “All people are born as originals, but many die as photocopies.”

This is a powerful statement, as all too often we do not live out our lives in the unique image God has created us in, but instead we die in the image that the world says we should be. Carlo’s devotion to the Eucharist brought out this unique vocation of his. In a world that was losing faith in the Real Presence of Jesus, Carlo as a teenager took it upon himself to document the miraculous truth, Jesus meant what He said on the night of the Last Supper and in John 6, “This IS my Body, This IS my Blood and unless you consume it, you have no life.” That is a paraphrasing of these two moments, but only 30 percent of Catholics believe this, and if we combine this with all Christians, that number might be closer to 15%. This is a far cry from the 100% of Christians who literally died for this belief, along with many others in the early church. St. Justin Martyr 150-170 A.D. documented this for example in the last several chapters of his apology, eventually he was executed, but not before an epic debate with Roman prefect of his time.

In close Blessed Carlo, knowing he didn’t have much time on this earth, chose to make the best of it. Despite only living 15 years, due to his radical choice of Dio, non io (God, not me), Carlo lives on in eternity of this life and the next. This is the beauty of the saints and the memories they give us forever, which inspire us to be the best humans we were designed to be. They are honored for their selfless ways or promoting love of God, which then will unite us in love of each other, since we will see the image of God in each other.

Blessed Carlo Acutis Shrine at St. Dominic’s Brick, NJ.