My Son Carlo by Acutis Antonia Salzano

Author:Acutis, Antonia Salzano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor
Published: 2023-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

7

The Poor , the Weak , My Closest Friends

Carlo recognized the living presence of Jesus in the poor and the sick, and he especially saw the crucified Christ in those who were suffering. In these people, he vividly perceived the presence of the Lord, and for this reason he tried to perform any concrete act of charity that he could for them, because helping them was equivalent to giving relief to the crucified Jesus.

When he gave them a blanket or sleeping bag, in his mind he returned to the night of Jesus’ birth, when everything was refused to him. Carlo felt that doing something for the poor meant doing it for Jesus personally. When he came into contact with human suffering, he found himself directly projected onto Calvary in the presence of Christ on the cross.

Saint Francis’s and St. Anthony of Padua’s examples of performing acts of charity toward the poor greatly encouraged Carlo to do the same. Everything he did, he did with passion. His enthusiasm was infectious. He was always trying to improve himself and continuously worrying about his neighbors, especially those in need. Sometimes, it seemed like he could not rest when he saw a beggar or a person with problems. If he could, he would give the shirt off his back to help them.

He believed these people were comparable to the Holy Family of Nazareth, who could not find a place to sleep except in a stable. He wrote the following in this regard in one of his meditations:

The Lord Jesus was made incarnate by choosing a poor girl of only fifteen as a mother and a poor carpenter as a surrogate father. When he was born, there were nothing but refusals on the part of people who did not know where to put him, and in the end, they found him a stable. If we think carefully about the stable in Bethlehem, it was surely better than many houses of today where the Lord is still refused and often even insulted because he is received in an unsuitable manner. A poor girl of fifteen and a poor carpenter were the parents of God, who chose poverty and not luxury.

When Carlo heard about the Opera San Francesco per i Poveri, an organization run in Milan by the Friars Minor Capuchin, it opened his eyes to a new world of apostleship and charity. They have soup kitchens where they give food to thousands of people and provide aid to the needy, providing extra services as well. He was inspired by this organization and wanted to do something himself to help the homeless and beggars that the friars served every day.

We often met with Father Giulio Savoldi, vice postulator and confessor of the venerable Friar Cecilio Maria Cortinovis, the friar caretaker and founder of this organization for the poor located on Viale Piave. Father Savoldi told me he had never seen a kid that was so sensitive to poverty and the suffering of others. He met Carlo when he was about five.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.