The Best-Known Sayings of Saint Carlo Acutis
– “Our goal must be the infinite, not the finite. The infinite is our homeland. We have always been awaited in heaven.”
– “Our compass must be the Word of God, against which we must constantly measure ourselves.”
– “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven… The more often we receive the Eucharist, the more we become like Jesus, and on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven… If we draw near to the Eucharist every day, we go straight to heaven… When we face the sun, we get a tan; when we place ourselves before Jesus in the Eucharist, we become saints.”
– The phrase he loved to say: “All are born as originals, but many die as photocopies.” The aim is to move toward this goal and not “die as photocopies”.
– “If people knew what eternity is, they would do everything they could to change their lives… Conversion is nothing other than shifting our gaze from below to above; a simple movement of the eyes is enough.”
– “To be always united with Jesus: this is the goal of my life… Find God and you will find the meaning of your life… Everything passes… What will make us truly beautiful in God’s eyes is loving him above all else… and loving our brothers and sisters as ourselves.”
– “Life is a gift, because as long as we are in this world we can increase our good works. The more there are, the more we will enjoy eternal happiness with God.”
– “To be always united with Jesus: that is my plan of life.”
– “The true disciple of Jesus Christ is the one who tries in everything to imitate him and to do God’s will.”
– “If souls truly risk damnation, as many saints testify and as the apparitions at Fatima confirmed, I wonder why people hardly talk about hell today, since it is something so terrible and frightening.” At table with his family he would say to his parents: “But do you realize what it means to be in hell for ever?… For all eternity, for ever, for ever…” Carlo found comfort only in praying the Rosary. “The only thing we should really fear is sin.”
– Carlo said to his friends: “Holiness is not a collection of virtues… Holiness is walking in God’s presence and always striving for perfection, living the encounter with Jesus Christ… People are so concerned about the beauty of their bodies and not about the beauty of their souls.”
– “The smallest flaw keeps us tied to the earth, like little balloons held down by the string in our hands.” And also: “A hot-air balloon, to fly high, needs to shed its weight; in the same way the soul, to rise to heaven, needs to get rid of even the smallest weights, which are venial sins… Do as I have done and you will see the results.”
– “Physical beauty fades at once. Time wins relentlessly. Nothing will be left. But spiritual beauty does not fade; it lasts for ever.”
– “We must fight for our conversion. Vices are like weights that stop our souls from rising spiritually” (cf. Ephesians 6:12). “The ego is like a wall; if we do not tear it down, we stop God from coming in and filling us with his graces.”
– “Holiness is not a process of addition but of subtraction: less of me, to make room for God.” Or even: “Not I, but God.” Because “every act of disobedience is pride.”
“From birth our earthly destiny is written: we are all called to climb Calvary carrying our cross.”
– “Sadness is looking at oneself; happiness is looking toward God… The only thing we should really fear is sin… Without God I can do nothing.”
– “I offer all the suffering I will have to endure for the Lord, for the Pope and for the Church, so as to go straight to heaven without passing through purgatory…”
– “I die peacefully, because I have lived my life without wasting even one minute on things that do not please God.”
– “The true disciple of Jesus Christ is the one who tries in everything to imitate him and to do God’s will… Only the one who does God’s will is truly free… What good is it for a man to win a thousand battles if he cannot then win the battle against himself?”
– “Life is truly beautiful only if we can love God above all and love our neighbour as ourselves.”
– “Criticizing the Church is criticizing ourselves! It is the Church that hands out the treasures for our salvation.”
– “The love Our Lady has for all of us gives me great hope… Who better than the Virgin Mary can teach us to reach ever more closely the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, since she is the Mother of Jesus, our God and Redeemer, and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit? God will surely refuse her nothing, for she is the creature God loves more than any other.”
– “After the Eucharist, the Holy Rosary is the most powerful weapon for fighting the devil… The Rosary is the shortest ladder for climbing to heaven… Nothing more than shifting our gaze from below to above; a simple movement of the eyes is enough.”
– “I am happy to die, because I have lived my life without wasting a single minute on things that do not please God.”
Prepared by Rita of the Sawt el Rab team
