“To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan.” With these few words, the young boy who was to die of leukemia at just fifteen “outlines the distinguishing feature of his brief existence: To live with Jesus, for Jesus, and in Jesus.”1 And Carlo’s testimony continued: “Our goal should be, not the end, but the world without end. The infinite is our Homeland. We have been expected in Heaven forever.” Later he added: “All people are born as originals, but many die as photocopies.”

In order to strive towards this goal and not “die as photocopies,” Carlo said that our Compass should be the Word of God, to which we should be continually applying ourselves. To attain such a lofty goal, only prayer and the Sacraments have the extraordinary value; they constitute the resources that are needed. At the centre of his own life, Carlo placed the Sacrament of the Eucharist. He called it “my highway to Heaven.”

Soon after his first Communion at the age of seven, he was going to Holy Mass every day, and never tired of praying the Holy Rosary. He practised Eucharistic adoration out of the personal conviction that, “when we are face to face with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we become Saints.” He often wondered what drove people to stand in kilometre-long lines for hours on end to attend a rock concert or a movie, while they are never seen approaching Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. In his view, people do not realize what they are lacking, for if they did, the churches would be so full that no one would be able to set foot inside. He often said with enthusiasm that, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, Jesus is present just as He was 2,000 years ago at the time of the Apostles, but that the faithful in those far-off days had to be always on the move in order to see Him, whereas today, we are much more fortunate since we are able to contemplate Him in the nearest church. In his own words, “We have Jerusalem at our doorstep.”

Being a good catechist, he was always seeking new and innovative ways to help strengthen the faith of those around him. His exhibitions are part of his legacy in this regard, and of these his most brilliant work is the Exhibition of the Miracles of the Eucharist. It was while visiting the exhibits at the Rimini Meeting of 2002 that Carlo decided to organize an exhibition based on the Miracles of the Eucharist recognized by the Church. For two and a half years, this project claimed a great personal investment on his part, in addition to involving his family. No one at that time could have imagined the spiritual impact that this Exhibition would since come to have. “As of today, we are able to state that the Exhibition has visited five continents.

Many of the clergy asked for the entirety of the elements of the Exhibition to be compiled in a catalogue. The authoritative preface was edited by the Most Reverend Cardinal Angelo Comastri, former Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and His Holiness’s Vicar General for the Vatican City, and by His Eminence Bishop Raffaello Martinelli, then Rector of the Ecclesiastical College of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. One can say in light of the results that, from that moment onwards, the Exhibition has been performing miracles.”

In the United States alone, thanks to the assistance of Catholic benevolent organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, The Cardinal Newman Society and the Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association and under the patronage of Cardinal Edmund Burke, the Exhibition has been hosted by thousands of parishes and, moreover, in more than one hundred universities, in addition to being promoted by Episcopal Conferences in, among many other places, the Philippines, Argentina and Vietnam. It has even crossed over borders into China and Indonesia. Important basilicas and shrines have invited Carlo’s Exhibition to visit, including the Sanctuary of Fátima in Portugal on the occasion of the centenary of Francisco Marto.

Locations where the miracles occurred can be visited virtually on the websites www.carloacutis.com and www.miracolieucaristici.org, and the various brochures can be downloaded directly. The Exhibition is free of charge, and all information is available by contacting: info@carloacutis.com, or by writing to:

Associazione “Amici di Carlo Acutis”
via Ariosto, 21-20145
Milan, Italy
Tel.: 3396340122
 

1 His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Foreword to Carlo Acutis, Un giovane per i giovani, Dr. N. Gori (2013)