By DEXTER DUGGAN
PHOENIX — An Italian teenager who played soccer, prayed the rosary, loved to play video games, and built websites for local parishes is “the first millennial to be called blessed” on the official path to sainthood, a parish family-life director told a session of the Institute of Catholic Theology (ICT) here.
Blessed Carlo Acutis also developed a website that still can be viewed today to document more than 187 Eucharistic miracles around the world (www.eucharistic
miraclesoftheworld.org), said Ryan Ayala, director of Marriage and Family Life at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church in suburban Scottsdale.
The ICT is an evangelization program based here at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, where Ayala previously was coordinator of youth ministry, as well as doing other work including teaching theology at Phoenix’s St. Mary’s Catholic High School.
“It was a short life, well-lived,” Ayala said of Acutis, who was born in May 1991 and died in October 2006 of leukemia.
“His parents weren’t necessarily practicing Catholics,” Ayala told the April 1 ICT session via a video, but he had a deep love for God from his early days and brought his family back to the Church.
Acutis also loved going to Confession and attending holy hours, as well as spending time with the poor and homeless, Ayala said.
He was a programmer at age 9 and was able to create beautiful websites because of a deep prayer life, Ayala said.
The teenager was declared venerable in 2018 by Pope Francis, Ayala said, and was elevated to the rank of blessed in 2020 because of a healing miracle attributed to him.
Although Acutis loved to play video games, he limited his time to one hour a week as a penitential practice, Ayala said.
Some of Acutis’ sayings were, “To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan,” and “The Eucharist is my highway to Heaven.”
Early in his talk, Ayala said that the First Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass names not only historic Popes and disciples but also lay people including John and Paul, who were military men, and Cosmas and Damian, who were physicians.
This illustrates the universal call to holiness, which “is deeply rooted in Christian history,” Ayala said, and was codified in the Vatican II teaching that “holiness belongs to everyone.”
Acutis is an example of this teaching of sanctification in ordinary life, he said.
He was buried in Assisi out of his love for St. Francis of Assisi, Ayala said.
A rector commented, “For the first time in history, we’ll see a saint in jeans, sneakers, and a sweater,” Ayala said.
This teenager is “a great story of someone who lived in the modern world,” Ayala said.
Ayala provided some quotations by Acutis, including these:
— “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on Earth we will have a foretaste of Heaven.”
— “All people are born as originals but may live as photocopies.”
— “Ask your guardian angel for help. Your guardian angel has to become your best friend.”
— “Do not be afraid because, with the Incarnation of Jesus, death becomes life, and escape: in eternal life, something extraordinary awaits us.”
— “Sadness is looking at ourselves, happiness is looking towards God.”
— “What does it matter if you can win a thousand battles if you cannot win against your own corrupt passions? It doesn’t matter. The real battle is within ourselves.”
Saying that Acutis inspires people to share the Good News, which requires virtue on their part, Ayala asked if their life promotes truth, goodness, and beauty, the way that Acutis would have wanted
Ayala proposed an “Examination of Conscience for My Online Life.” Among the questions:
— “How do I practice balance in my online life?”
— “Is my Internet use put at the service of the common good? If so, how? If not, what do I need to change? Do I respect other people and their opinions?”
— “Does my online presence reflect my authentic self or do I try to hide behind a false persona?”
— “Might I benefit from talking about my online challenges with someone, a trusted friend, family member, or confessor?”
With all the political discourse online, there’s no need to look at one’s neighbor as an enemy, because they are neighbors and God loves them, too, Ayala said.
Ayala said he has been married for almost 10 years to Amanda, and they have three children.
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