World News – US – Speaking: We can all be holy and good

A friend of mine shared a Facebook post from a group of young Catholics He commented: “Finally a saint with a picture with his tongue sticking out and wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater We could have been Facebook friends too « 

The boy in the photo was Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991-2006), beatified in Oct 10 and is increasingly becoming known as the first holy millennium (although he has not yet been recognized as a saint, the beatification is one more step towards canonization)

At 15, Acutis was no different from us: he played video games, played football with his friends and went to school He did everything that was familiar to him, but according to an interview with his mother, Antonia Salzano, on Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), he knew that ordinary aspects of the world could be turned into something extraordinary

Widely known as a computer geek, Acutis loved information technology, especially its potential as an engine for doing good. Months before he died from leukemia, he created a site Web listing Eucharistic miracles throughout history His website has provided believers in Christ with a forum to learn more about their faith Today miracolieucaristiciorg is an apostolate of his family and friends to continue and is available in 17 languages ​​

Even Pope Francis in Christus Vivit – the closing document of the synod for young people signed on March 25, 2019 – devoted an entire chapter to Acutis The Pope presented Acutis as a role model for young people on how to use the media to evangelize the faith

Fr Carlos Acacio Goncalves Ferreira for EWTN and Fr Will Conquer, author of the book Carlos Acutis, A Geek in Heaven, both said that one of the fascinating elements of Acutis and his beatification is his closeness to normality – we can identify him as one of us and see that holiness is an achievable pursuit

In addition to showing us that holiness and holiness are possible, Acutis illustrated that we can be holy in the little things we do if we offer all we have to God. We must own and embrace the faith given to us and do so wholeheartedly

His devotion and dedication to the Holy Eucharist set an example that we can easily follow As he often said, the Eucharist is the road to heaven

As young people we are in our transitional phase: we are trying new things, experimenting and always discovering our place in the world, trying to appear fearless in the midst of all our fears of the world Bl Carlo Acutis expressed that we must remain in the presence of the Lord to find where we belong In Him we are at home

He gives us hope that holiness is not just a thing of the past as we look at the colorful and aged photos of saints from the 1800s or the icons standing at the back of the church Here we have a blessed and holy youth dressed in jeans and sneakers proclaiming the Kingdom of God in the simplest way possible: via the Internet

Named the patron saint of the Internet, Acutis has shown that the global web is not always a place of immorality and uselessness – good can come out of it We have all been given the prizes to be holy and to do good. well, and we must use these resources We can do good things and become righteous

(Ducepec, 22, is a recent BSc from the University of Toronto His field of study was anthropology)

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Carlo Acutis, Catholic Church, Pope Francis, Assisi