Blessed Carlo Acutis preached a sermon with his life.  A call for people of all ages to never settle for mediocrity. Born in Italy, May 1991, this first “millennial” to be beatified died at the age of fifteen, after a battle with leukemia. Blessed Carlo grew up as a child in an ordinary home, but his witness of intentional kindness, dynamic prayer, and proclamation of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist stands as a beacon of hope in a secular age.  He used modern technology, especially computers for GOOD! His love for video games is one reason that many young people are encouraged to see him beatified.  However, the time Bl. Carlo spent playing in these virtual worlds with his friends never became more important to him than the “real” world he awaited in Heaven.  Here are some quotes from this holy teenager:

MARY~  “The Virgin Mary is the only woman in my life.”

DAILY MASS ~ “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.”

SUFFERING ~ “There are people who suffer much more than me.”

ANGELS ~ “Continuously ask your guardian angel for help. Your guardian angel has to become your best friend.”

LIVE LIFE ~ “All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies”

HUMILITY ~ “Not me, but God.”

ZEAL ~. “The only thing we have to ask God for, in prayer, is the desire to be holy.”

SIN ~ “Our soul is like a hot air balloon. If by chance there is a mortal sin, the soul falls to the ground. Confession is like the fire underneath the balloon enabling the soul to rise again. . . It is important to go to confession often.”

MASS ~ “The Eucharist is the highway to heaven.”

PRAYER ~ “The only thing we have to ask God for, in prayer, is the desire to be holy.”

REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING ~ “I offer all the suffering I will have to suffer for the Lord, for the Pope, and the Church.” 

St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia  was born in Seville, Spain on February 25, 1877, into a devout and prayerful family. After ordination, his first assignment as a priest would radically change the course of his life and his priestly ministry. He discovered quickly that he had been sent to a region where most people had fallen away from the Faith, and the priest he was replacing had essentially abandoned the parish.  When he arrived, he found a church building in disrepair. There were cobwebs and dust everywhere. The altar linens had not been cared for and the tabernacle where Our Lord resided was abandoned. He decided to dedicate the rest of his priesthood to making atonement and reparation.  St. Manuel encountered the depths of Christ’s love and the deep agony of all Jesus faced throughout His public ministry, all the way to the Cross, until now, where Jesus is abandoned in tabernacles across the world. He saw how much we abandon, deny, reject, ignore, and despise Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. This is just as true today as it was on that afternoon for St. Manuel.  Let’s reflect upon some of his wisdom:

PRIESTHOOD ~ “If I would be born a thousand times; a thousand times I would be a priest.”

ADORATION ~ “There, I knelt before that pile of debris and grime, and my faith saw, behind that battered little door of the tabernacle, a Jesus so silent, so patient, so overlooked, so kind, looking at me… It seemed to me that His eyes, having searched that desert of souls, alighted on me sadly and suppliantly, speaking volumes and asking even more…” 

SELF OFFERING ~ “If the love of my Jesus is the love of a Host, I should be for Jesus, a host of love. If Jesus is my Host, every day and every hour, should I not aspire, and prepare myself to be His daily and hourly host?”

HIS TOMB ~ Upon a white marble slab : “I ask to be buried before a tabernacle, so that my bones, after my death, like my tongue and my pen during my life, may constantly say to those who pass by: “Jesus is here! He is here! Do not leave Him abandoned!”