The relic of a heart set before us today invites us to find the Love that was “at the heart” of Blessed Carlo Acutis. The love which Saint Paul tells us endures all things, “love which does not come to an end”[i]. The love of God with whole heart, mind and soul to which Jesus calls us in the first and greatest commandment; and the love of our neighbour which resembles it[ii].
As a child, the first symbol of faith which left an impression on me was a heart wounded, surmounted by a cross and suffused with flames. A sight at once both awesome and gentle. And while my young eyes could barely fathom in this Sacred Heart “the love with which the Divine Redeemer unceasingly loves His eternal Father and all mankind”[iii] I could never doubt, from then to now, that the Heart of Jesus expresses the very core of Christianity[iv].
Travelling to Shrewsbury Cathedral, we see something still more astonishing in the Sacred Heart Chapel built in memory of our first bishop, James Brown. Our Lord is depicted surrounded by His saints, drawn from every time and place, yet united by every heart being on fire with the same Divine love radiating from the Heart of Jesus. The Saints thereby show us what true participation in the life and mission of the Church always consists in: a heart united to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. This is what our full, conscious and active participation in the Mass must always mean.
And this was true of a young man who grew up in the first years of our 21st Century. Carlo Acutis, an ordinary young man indistinguishable from his contemporaries in the way he dressed, the trainers he wore, the Nutella he liked (and recognised he liked too much!) and especially the internet he used. Yet, what makes Carlo Acutis stand out as a witness, was what lay at the heart of his life, his interior life. For this young man discovered the Heart of Jesus in the silence of the Eucharist; in the daily offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass; in commitment to personal prayer; in the frequent Confession of his sins as the path to holiness; and in love for Mary, the Mother of Christ and our Mother.
And this Love overflowed from his heart in a desire to share this same love, indeed, the great miracle of love, which is the Eucharist, with all his contemporaries, indeed with all the world via the internet. A love which overflowed in the ordinary duties and details of life in care of friends; in standing up to bullies; and in his practical concern for the poor. A love which expanded his heart, we might say, through those last days in the experience of pain and debility leading to the final day in October 2006 as he offered his suffering for the Pope and the Church, that is for us.
Yet not a few young people are told diabolically today that a life so given for the love of Christ is a wasted life. It is an objection made to those who come forward to offer their lives in the Priesthood or the Consecrated Life; and those called to the enduring love of marriage and family, told they are “losing their freedom.” Yet, we know, a human life is only wasted and lost insofar as we fail to discover the Love for which we were made. As Pope Benedict declared “Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man”[v]. For humanity cannot live without love, Divine Love. This led Pope Francis to reflect the only real tragedy in a human life is that we fail to become a saint, to reach the perfection of love like the 15-year-old Carlo Acutis. Our lives are truly wasted if you and I fail to strive for this same goal in the time that has been given us.
And so, as we approach this relic of the heart of a young man who reached the heights of love and holiness in 15 short years, we ask that our poor hearts will catch fire with the same love of Christ which burnt so brightly in his. For his witness leads us to the Heart of Jesus opened to us supremely in the Mystery of His Eucharist that Carlo named the Highway to Heaven. As we set out on this same “High Way” may Blessed Carlo pray for us. Amen.
[i] I Cor. 13: 8
[ii] Cf. Mt. 22: 35-40
[iii] Pope Pius XII Encyclical Letter “Haurietis Aquas” No. 54
[iv] Cf. Pope Benedict XVI Letter on 150th Anniversary of the Cure of Ars 2009
[v] Deus Caritas Est No.28
(Photos by Simon Caldwell)