The University of Santo Tomas will host Blessed Carlo Acutis’ Relic and Pilgrim Image visit from November 13 to 20, 2023, at the Santisimo Rosario Parish.
This week-long pilgrim aims to inspire the Thomasian Community with his dutiful life, legacy, and spiritual teachings. He earned the moniker “Millennial Cyber Apostle of the Eucharist” for documenting the Eucharistic miracles worldwide and cataloging them on his website. Thus, his devotion to serving the Lord in innovative and modern ways stands as a beacon among the youth, a reminder that Holiness is a call for everyone.
The Friends of Blessed Carlo Acutis Philippines and Tropa ni Carlo Acutis organized this event in partnership with the Office of the Vice-Rector for Religious Affairs, Santisimo Rosario Parish, and the Center for Campus Ministry.
Schedule of Activities:
November 13, 2023 (Monday)
4:30 p.m. – Arrival and reception of the Pilgrim Image and Relic at the Carillon Bells and its solemn enthronement at the Parish
5:15 p.m. – Eucharistic Celebration and the opening of the Eucharistic Miracles exhibit at the Parish Hallway
November 13-20, 2023
-Week-long public veneration of the Relic at the Parish
November 17, 2023 (Friday)
After the 5:15 p.m. Mass – Holy Hour for the Sanctification of Youth
November 20, 2023 (Monday)
7:30 a.m. – Farewell Rites and Thanksgiving Mass
The ‘Millennial Cyber Apostle of the Eucharist’
Blessed Carlo Acutis was born in London on May 3, 1991, and died in Monza between October 11-12, 2006, as a result of acute leukemia. He loved saying, “Sadness is the gaze directed inwards, while happiness is the gaze directed toward God.”
For Bl. Acutis, “our aim has to be the infinite and not the finite,” thus, he wrote: “Conversion is nothing more than lifting our gaze upwards; a simple movement of the eyes is enough.”
His entire life was a struggle to overcome his defects and to live ever more heroically the virtues of “Faith, Hope, and Love” for God and our neighbor. He used to say: “What is the point of winning a thousand battles if we cannot win the battle with ourselves and our corrupt passions?”
His spiritual journey was founded on the Holy Eucharist and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He honored the Virgin Mary by reciting the Rosary daily, and he had consecrated himself to her Immaculate Heart, as suggested to him by Our Lady at Fatima.
In order to make others know the Eucharist, which he called his “highway to heaven,” he designed an exhibition on the Eucharistic miracles that had occurred across the world throughout the centuries.
It was hosted in thousands of parishes the world over. He attended Holy Mass daily and liked to pause for some time before or after Mass, before the Tabernacle, in adoration of the Lord Jesus, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Pope Francis wrote the following about Bl. Acutis, in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit, addressed to young people and to the entire People of God on March 25, 2019: “I remind you of the good news we received as a gift on the morning of the resurrection: that in all the dark or painful situations that we mentioned, there is a way out. For example, it is true that the digital world can expose you to the risk of self-absorption, isolation, and empty pleasure. But don’t forget that there are young people who even show creativity and even genius. That was the case with Bl. Acutis. He was well aware that the whole apparatus of communications, advertising, and social networking can be used to lull us, to make us addicted to consumerism and buying the latest thing on the market, obsessed with our free time, caught up in negativity. Yet, he knew how to use the new communications technology to transmit the Gospel, to communicate values and beauty. Carlo didn’t fall into the trap. He saw that many young people, wanting to be different, really end up like everyone else, running after whatever the powerful set before them with the mechanisms of consumerism and distraction. In this way, they do not bring forth the gifts the Lord has given them; they do not offer the world those unique personal talents that God has given to each of them. As a result, Carlo said, ‘All people are born as originals, but many die as photocopies.’ Do not let that happen to you!“
Today, more than ever, there is the risk of chasing the false sirens that the world offers us, and Bl. Acutis knew how to wisely oppose and overcome the significant challenges and snares of our days; he can help us through his example and his intercession not to lose that original and only plan that God has in store for each of us from eternity.
Especially now that he lives in the Beatitude of Heaven, he continuously intercedes for his peers, families, and those who are lost, those in need, and those who suffer. Many people worldwide testify that they have received graces and miracles through prayers addressed to Bl. Acutis.
Now that Pope Francis has declared him Blessed let us pray to him so that he can help us be authentic witnesses of the Risen Christ, like he was.
