Episode Transcript  

One

Love for the Eucharist

Today is the Feast of St. Carlo Acutis. He was born in 1991 in London and raised in Milan. He died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of fifteen. Pope Leo XIV canonized him on September 7, 2025. Carlo showed an extraordinary love for the Eucharist from a very young age. He attended daily Mass, prayed the Rosary, and spent long hours in Eucharistic Adoration. When he was ten, he said, "Jesus is very creative because he hides in a little piece of bread, and only God could do something so incredible!"

After Communion, he prayed, "Jesus, make yourself at home in me. Live within me as if I were your own dwelling!"

His life plan was simple: “To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan.” Yet he also lamented that many people failed to see the gift of the Eucharist:

"We can find God in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity present in all the tabernacles of the world! If we think about it, we are much more fortunate than those who met Jesus on this earth two thousand years ago, because we always have God 'really and substantially' with us always. It is enough to visit a nearby church. 'Jerusalem' is in every church! No room for despair! God is always with us and will never abandon us. How can people grasp this truth? Throngs of people stand in interminable lines to buy tickets to rock concerts or soccer matches, but I don’t see crowds of people lined up outside church waiting to see Jesus in the Eucharist. This should make us pause and reflect.”

Two

Technology, Programming, and Evangelization

From a young age, Carlo taught himself computer programming and web design. He saw the internet as a powerful tool for evangelization. At eleven, he began researching Eucharistic miracles from around the world. He eventually catalogued 136 of them on a website and developed the material into a multimedia exhibition. The exhibition has since been shown in more than 10,000 churches and other locations worldwide.

Carlo put his technological ability at the service of one purpose: to awaken faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, especially among those who were doubtful or indifferent.

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

Three

Authenticity in a Conformist World

St. Carlo Acutis saw the power for good in the internet. But he also saw its dangers. Especially in the way it can lead us to compare ourselves to others. He often reminded his friends, "All people are born as originals, but many die as photocopies."

Who am I? By faith and baptism, I now share in the divine nature; I am a son of God destined to reign with Christ forever in heaven. Furthermore, God made me unique. No person in history ever has or will have my gifts and my particular call to do good in the world. The only thing that matters is what God invites me to become. Period.

The temptation is to compare oneself to others. I like to lift weights. If I compare myself to the strongest men in the world, like Hafþór Björnsson or Brian Shaw, who are 6’8 and 6’10, 450 lbs, then I am weak. But compared to all the 150-lb, 58-year-old Mariologists in the world. I rank pretty well. Maybe the top in my class. The fact is, we are all the top in our class because we are the only ones in our class. So, it is completely absurd to compare ourselves to others because no one is like us and we are like no one.

Carol remarked, “Everyone is born with their own originality, but many people lose it by trying to be like someone else.”

The only one we should look to is God and ask, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” 

Four

Offering and Suffering

On October 2nd, 2006, fifteen-year-old Carlo became ill with what appeared to be the flu. Six days later, he was diagnosed with fulminant M3 leukemia. He died four days after that. Carlo understood that he would probably never leave the hospital. Yet he remained peaceful and consciously offered his suffering for others, “I offer to the Lord the sufferings that I will have to undergo for the Pope and for the Church.”

This is redemptive suffering: uniting the suffering we cannot avoid with the sacrifice of Jesus and offering it to God for the good of others.

On October 10th, Carlo asked to receive the Anointing of the Sick and Holy Communion. The hospital chaplain remembered his pale but serene face, his composure and the devotion with which he received the sacraments. His mother said that he never complained and continued to smile.

Carlo faced death with the confidence of someone who knew where he was going, “I am happy to die because I have lived my life without wasting a minute on things that do not please God.”

How many of us can say that?

Five

A Miracle from Heaven

Carlo went to Heaven on October 12th, 2006. Exactly seven years later, a four-year-old Brazilian boy named Mattheus came with his family to venerate a relic of Carlo. Mattheus had been born with annular pancreas, a rare condition in which pancreatic tissue formed a ring around his intestine, preventing food from passing normally out of his stomach. He vomited constantly, lived primarily on liquid nutrition, and weighed only twenty pounds. Mattheus’s mother prayed a novena asking Carlo to intercede for her son. At the prayer service, Mattheus approached the relic in his grandfather’s arms. When asked what healing he wanted, he answered simply, “I want to stop vomiting.” He touched the relic and repeated his request.

Afterward, Mattheus told his family that he was healed. When they returned home, he asked for solid food, ate a full meal, and did not vomit. Subsequent medical examinations showed that his pancreas had returned to normal. The Vatican’s medical commission found no scientific explanation for the immediate and lasting healing. The Church recognized it as a miracle obtained from God through Carlo’s intercession, opening the way for his beatification in 2020.

Since we're in the middle of a series on strengthening your attention, and Carlo had such a love for the Eucharist, why don't we go to an extra daily Mass this in order to love Jesus by receiving him, and during the whole Mass just practice paying attention to every word, then especially to sit with Jesus after you receive him in communion and just give him your attention for a few minutes.

If you enjoyed this meditation, subscribe below.