I came across this amazing video of Carlo Acutis the other day. Of course, I can't find it now, but this one captures the spirit of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cd6LU318Tk .
Carlo is near and dear to my heart as a fellow Eucharistic adorer, but also because he was a computer "geek." I love that he is wearing his sneakers and track suit for his trip to eternity as well. I'm a sneakers kind of gal myself.
While watching the other video, I was wondering what thoughts go thru his mother's head as she looks upon the incorrupted body of her son, Carlo? She's a stronger woman than I am, as I was sitting here in a puddle of tears just contemplating it. She is prominent in the video looking at her son and walking among the clergy present. It must be awesome, in the truest form of the word, to see him looking just as he must have all the nights she, and his father, looked in on him as he grew. How does one reconcile the little boy, so full of life, joy, and his every day life to be the boy on the road to sainthood lying before them now?
He was just an ordinary boy with an extraordinary devotion to Christ in the Eucharist when he received Him at the age of 7. A few years later he devoted his time to cataloguing all the Eucharistic miracles on a website. I personally know how time consuming websites can be but I'm sure that the Holy Spirit gave him tenacity in spades to get his mission accomplished. He died, in 2006, at the age of 15 from leukemia, but his website lives on for all of us. https://www.miracolieucaristici.org.
"The more Eucharist that you receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven." ~ Carlo Acutis
He attended Mass daily, received the Eucharist as often as he could and also advocated for the Rosary. Carlo is a Saint for our times.
Another remarkable young man was St. Jose' Luis Sanchez de Rio. St. Jose', who was canonized on October 16, 2016, was a young martyr for the church. Jose' received Communion whenever possible and prayed the Rosary often as well. He was killed during the "Cristero" War aka Christ the King which ran from 1926-1929. The war was a result of the tensions which erupted between the Catholic Church and the State. The church felt that the State was anti-religious and encroaching on their freedom. At a tender age of 14, Jose' begged his Mother to allow him to join his brothers, as soldiers for the Catholic faith but, of course, his mother said no. Again, another young man with tenacity, he kept asking and eventually became a soldier. As his story goes on, Jose' gave his horse to General Guizar Morfín, who had lost his own to enemy fire. Jose' was ultimately captured and tortured by the
anti-Cristeros soldiers. They imprisoned and violently tortured him ignoring efforts
to free him including his family offering ransom money. Of course, José
refused all attempts to rescue him, proclaiming “my faith is not for
sale.” It is said that he prayed the Rosary daily throughout his imprisonment.
Jose' was then transferred to another prison, where he was told that he would be executed for
his religious conviction. He was often heard praying “Long live Christ the King," while being beaten and tortured, and, "Long
live Holy Mary of Guadalupe!” He died just one month short of his 15th birthday by execution in Sahuayo, Mexico, which was also his birthplace. As he was being lead to his death he was shouting repeatedly, Viva Christo Rey! Though he died in 1929, St. Jose's body is incorrupted. Here's a short video about him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-p8yiFcbYI.
“Mama, do not let me lose the opportunity to gain Heaven so easily and so soon”. ~ St. Jose' Sanchez de Rio
They had very different lifestyles and lived in differing countries and times in history but I know for a fact that they have one thing in common. I am SURE that they were raised in a devout, Catholic, family that lived the faith daily and taught it to their children. They were also both taught the importance of prayer and how to keep Christ as the center of their lives.
As we just celebrated the feast days of St. Monica and her son St. Augustine, I am reminded of just how much prayer can move mountains. St. Augustine was a handful, just like my own Thomas. A friend of mine that is a priest, Fr. Ed., used to refer to me as St. Monica because every time he saw me I was either crying or near tears. St. Monica is often called the Mother of Tears because of the ones she shed for her wayward son. Augustine wrote in his book:
"Thus you gave another answer through your priest, a certain bishop nurtured in the Church and trained in your books. When that woman implored him to consider speaking with me, to refute my errors, un-teach me evil, and teach me good…he refused her, quite prudently, as I understood later. He responded that I was as yet indocile, that I was inflated with my heresy’s novelty… “but let him be. Only pray for him to the Lord: he will discover by reading what his error is…” She would not acquiesce to what he said but continued imploring… “Go away,” he said, “while you live, the son of these tears of yours shall not perish!” (The Confessions of St. Augustine III, 12)
In order to be a saint, you have to be close to God. In order to raise a saint, you have to teach your children how to be close to God.
What are you doing to raise a Saint? What are you doing to be a Saint? Start with prayer.
How are Tom and I doing? We are works in progress.
In the meantime, we have two amazing young Saints to look to as examples of what faith in the times of struggle can be and we ask for their intercession and guidance.
Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us.
Saint Jose' Luis Sanchez de Rio, pray for us.
Peace,
Mare
