Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1500196
We often underestimate just how power- ful the witness of a child can be, and this is especially true in matters of faith. It is in the innocence of a child —that of my daughter and Carlo — where faith in its purest form can be found. And it is precisely with this sort of blind, untainted faith that Jesus beckons us to approach him in the Eucharist — at every Mass, to be sure, but especially during this Eucharistic Revival. One might purport that Carlo had a supernatural gift of this faith, but the truth is he was a normal child just like any other, prone to all the same tendencies a child has. The same is true of my daughter. But for reasons that are a mystery, both she and Carlo see something in the Eucharist that all the faithful are called to see — and they make no qualms about it. "If Jesus says he is fully present in the Eucharist," so goes the mind of a child, "then he is." They don't wonder whether it's true or not, but in their wonder, they simply believe. Of course, as Carlo understood very well, the Eucharist is the primary means by which we unite ourselves to Christ. "Carlo always said that we must 'Eucharistize' ourselves, because then we become contagious with Christ," Antonia said of her son. "'Being always united to Jesus: that is my program of life,' he used to say." Children, in all their wonder, often make for the best Eucharistic witnesses — and indeed, God likely intended it this way. Suffice it to say that those of us who are older and wiser and try to make sense of everything (this writer included) can learn a thing or two from approach- ing the Eucharist with this sense of childlike wonder. May the Lord grant us the grace to do so during this Parish Year for the Eucharistic Revival. 10 JUNE 2023 | DENVER CATHOLIC Being always united to Jesus: that is my program of life." BL. CARLO ACUTIS