Editor’s note: The following is from Bishop Lucia’s Oct. 12 homily, reflecting on Dilexi te and St. Carlo Acutis.
In the gospel we just heard, brothers and sisters, Jesus healed 10 people afflicted with leprosy, but only one of them returned to give thanks. We might wonder why the others didn’t come back. Without too much judgment on our part, maybe they couldn’t connect the dots that God himself had healed them on their way. It seems that only one person — a Samaritan — realized that he had been in the presence of the divine. And he didn’t just say “Thank you,” either. He fell at Jesus’ feet and worshipped God “in a loud voice.”
Here is my question for our consideration this Lord’s Day: “What does it mean for you and me to worship God in a loud voice?” Two events I believe can help our reflection this afternoon/morning: (1) Pope Leo’s first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexit te on the care of the poor, and (2) Tomorrow’s/Today’s feast day of St. Carlo Acutis.
In the second paragraph of Dilexi te, Pope Leo writes: “This exhortation is an invitation to contemplate Christ’s love, that we may be inspired to become attentive to the suffering and needs of others and to share in the work of liberation that flows from His love” (#2). You and I might still be wondering what this means for our lives, so let us allow one who grew from a childlike faith to a mature one as a teenager to guide us further in our reflection.
An article I recently read was entitled, “Carlo Acutis and the Gift of Presence,” found on the Franciscan Media website. It was written by Dr. Darleen Pryds, and I was captivated by the fact that there was a relatively unknown influence in his life, and she had a “domino effect.” Dr. Pryds writes: “In reading about the life and faith of Carlo Acutis in recent months, I have naturally been impressed with the faith of this young man. But I have also noticed the faith of those around him, especially his nanny, Beata Sperczyrska, when he was a young boy … [In one of his biographies, a] brief passage on Beata points to the profound effect of being deeply present with her faith and with those around her … Having traveled from her native Poland to work in Milan, she brought with her prayers cards and a fervent hope in Christ’s love.”
She was the first to teach little Carlo in the Catholic faith (remember that his mother Antonia talks about that in the early years, she and her husband rarely practiced their faith). So it was Beata who showed Carlo a faith of relationship and presence. She took him with her to Mass and also taught him to drop in churches as they passed by and say, “hi to Jesus.”
This brief anecdote relates a possible influence on Carlo and helps explain how he came to be so social and interactive in his faith as a youth, showing up to greet strangers and offering them food or clothing that they needed, for example. Did Beata expect little Carlo to become a saint? Not likely. But there was great hope that he might discover faith through these small acts of devotion and relationality that she brought into his life when she was his nanny. This was not so much an expectation that he would take on her Catholic faith as much as her own constant hope in Christ that could not be suppressed. This hope spilled over onto Carlo, who in turn shared it with so many through his short life, and now as many more flock to Assisi to pray near his body.
Where Carlo’s influence can be seen particularly is in the life of Rajeesh Mohur, who was employed by Carlo’s parents to help take care of Carlo beginning in 1995. Rajeesh was from a devout Hindu family from the island nation of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Yet, as he says of himself, he was “always on the search for the living God.”
In and through Carlo Acutis, he found the living God he was searching for. He said in an interview, “When I saw Carlo Acutis — at Church, give away his toys and nice gifts to care for the poor, helping the poor in the winter cold … I got converted.” Carlo helped Rajeesh learn to pray the Rosary as a Hindu so he could pray it with the Acutis family, but this would further lead to Carlo’s sharing with him the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the infinite gift to be found in Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. Four years after their initial meeting, in 1999, Rajeesh, in his late 30s, would receive the Sacraments of Initiation.
But Carlo’s influence doesn’t end here. Carlo also brought Rajeesh’s mother to the Catholic faith by explaining to her its teachings when she came to visit her son in Italy. After her baptism, Rajeesh’s mother made it her mission to visit the sick in Mauritius and pray with them, using some of the holy water from Lourdes.
All of this leads me back to my initial question: “What does it mean for you and me to worship God in a loud voice?” Or perhaps another way we can now ask it, how does my relationship with God influence others’ relationship with God? Today, the one leper recognized he was in the presence of the divine and Jesus himself invited him to, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” (Lk 17:19). Go where? Naturally, he went back home and shared his faith experience — most likely in a loud voice because of the excitement of the moment — with others.
Sisters and brothers, how loudly do you and I share our faith? The words Dilexit te mean, “I have loved you.” How do you and I sing out this good news of God’s love — seen in his wondrous deeds — to those around us? Pope Leo invites us to look at our mission through this lens: “What is proper worship? Worship, he says, has the task of transforming us, so that we become living images of Christ, and freeing us ‘from the risk of living our relationships according to a logic of calculation and self-interest’ (No. 27). In this sense, love for the poor purifies our worship, which increases our love for the poor.”
As we continue our Eucharist, let us ask St. Carlo Acutis to help each one of us be an influencer, leading those around us on the road of life closer to God and Christ. In the words of St. Paul, “Beloved: Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead” (2 Tm 2:8), and let us “unchain the Word of God” in our lives. Amen.
