The Saint I Didn’t Know I Needed

A very ordinary morning

It was a very ordinary morning.

I was lying in bed, somewhere around midmorning, scrolling through TikTok while doing something that probably sounds completely unrelated to saints, Catholicism, or anything spiritual.

I was researching Microsoft Defender.

I had been thinking about cybersecurity and the different tools I use to build and manage things online. I wanted to understand how I could better protect my digital spaces from malicious links, viruses, and the things we don't always see coming when we work on the internet.

So there I was—half relaxing, half researching, scrolling and learning.

And then, somehow, I came across a name I had never heard before.

Carlo Acutis.

I stopped.

Who was Carlo Acutis?

I had no idea.

I hadn't been searching for a saint. I wasn't looking for inspiration. I wasn't even thinking about Catholic saints at the time.

But something about him made me curious enough to keep reading.

And what I discovered left me completely undone.

Who was this young man?

Carlo Acutis was born in London in 1991 and grew up in Italy. He was a teenager who loved many ordinary things—football, friends, video games, computers, and learning.

But there was one love that stood above everything else.

Jesus.

Carlo developed a profound love for the Eucharist and for the Mass. He also spent time in Eucharistic adoration and had a deep devotion to Our Lady.

What struck me most was that his faith did not seem like something he had placed in a separate compartment of his life.

Jesus was not simply one part of Carlo's life.

Jesus was the center around which everything else made sense.

And Carlo was young.

Very young.

He didn't wait until he was older to take holiness seriously. He didn't believe you needed to become someone else before giving your life to God.

He simply offered God the person he already was.

A boy.

A student.

A friend.

A son.

A lover of computers.

A Catholic who loved the Eucharist.

And that was enough for God to do something beautiful.

The computer boy who loved the Eucharist

There is something almost wonderfully unexpected about Carlo's story.

He loved computers.

At a time when many people might have viewed computers and the internet primarily as entertainment or even as a distraction from faith, Carlo saw an opportunity.

He taught himself about computers and used his skills to create a website documenting Eucharistic miracles from around the world.

Think about that for a moment.

A teenager using technology to tell people about Jesus.

Not because technology itself was holy, but because the person using it had decided what it would be for.

Carlo understood that the tools of his generation could be placed in the hands of God.

His computer skills became more than a hobby.

They became a way of witnessing.

And perhaps that is one of the reasons his story feels so relevant today.

We are living in a world Carlo would have understood.

A world of websites and smartphones, social media and digital businesses, online communities and endless streams of information.

A world where technology can consume our attention—or become a means of giving something beautiful to others.

Carlo reminds us that holiness doesn't require escaping the modern world.

Sometimes, it means bringing Christ into it.

The moment my heart broke open

As I continued reading about Carlo, something happened that I still find difficult to put into words.

It felt as though God was gently connecting the dots.

Here I was, in bed, thinking about protecting my digital tools and trying to understand cybersecurity.

And suddenly I was reading about a young Catholic who had taken the very tools of the digital age and used them to share his faith.

The connection was so unexpected.

So personal.

And then came the thought:

“This is your person.”

And I wept.

Not because I had known Carlo.

I hadn't.

Not because I had been searching for him.

I wasn't.

I cried because, in that moment, I felt deeply reminded of something I have experienced many times in my walk with God:

He is intentional.

Sometimes we don't understand why we encounter certain people, stories, Scriptures, or saints at particular moments in our lives.

We simply arrive at the moment.

And then suddenly, something speaks directly to the season we are in.

That was Carlo for me.

“You need another helper.”

The thought that came to my heart was simple:

“You need another helper.”

And somehow, that brought me to tears all over again.

Because I have been learning that building something requires more than ideas.

There is planning.

There is learning.

There are mistakes.

There are technical problems.

There are decisions that have to be made.

There are moments when you wonder whether you are doing things the right way.

And through all of it, there is the quiet realization that perhaps God doesn't always answer our need for help in the way we expect.

Sometimes He sends a person.

Sometimes He sends a friend.

Sometimes He sends a Scripture.

And sometimes, perhaps, He introduces us to a saint whose life speaks into ours from heaven.

I don't presume to know exactly what God intends by my encounter with Carlo.

But I know what it made me feel.

Seen.

And encouraged.

Why Carlo belongs at Taji

When I began building Taji, I wanted to create something beautiful for Catholics.

A place where faith could meet beauty.

A place where someone could find a rosary, a piece of Catholic jewellery, clothing, or a devotional item—but perhaps also discover something that draws their heart a little closer to God.

And Taji is being built in a very modern way.

There is a website.

There is technology.

There are digital tools.

There is social media.

There is online communication.

There are things I am still learning every single day.

And now there is Carlo.

Not as a mascot.

Not as a marketing strategy.

But as a reminder.

A reminder that the tools we use matter less than the purpose we give them.

A website can simply be a website.

Or it can become a little doorway through which someone encounters beauty, faith, encouragement, or truth.

A computer can simply be a computer.

Or it can become an instrument for sharing the Gospel.

A business can simply sell products.

Or it can become an opportunity to serve people with love and integrity.

That is the kind of reminder I want to carry with me as Taji grows.

A young saint for a generation like ours

Perhaps Carlo's greatest gift to our generation is not simply that he knew how to use a computer.

It is that he showed us that holiness is possible in ordinary life.

You don't have to wait.

You don't have to become perfect first.

You don't have to live in another century.

You don't have to abandon the gifts and interests God has placed inside you.

You can begin where you are.

With what you have.

Right now.

Carlo died of leukemia in 2006 at only fifteen years old.

His life was short by human standards.

But perhaps that is another reason his story is so powerful.

His life reminds us that holiness isn't measured by the number of years we are given.

It is measured by what we do with the love we have been given.

Carlo once wrote, “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.”

That sentence captures something profound about him.

He knew where he was going.

And he wanted others to know the way too.

Dear Carlo…

Dear Carlo,

I didn't know you existed.

I didn't grow up knowing your story.

I wasn't searching for you that morning.

I was lying in bed, watching TikToks and researching Microsoft Defender.

And somehow, your name appeared before me.

Perhaps that is what makes this encounter so precious to me.

You arrived without warning.

And you arrived carrying a reminder I needed.

Thank you for showing me that young people can love Jesus deeply.

Thank you for showing me that technology can be used in the service of faith.

Thank you for reminding me that ordinary gifts can become beautiful offerings when we give them back to God.

Please pray for Taji.

Pray for everyone who will one day encounter it.

Pray for the young people who are searching.

Pray for those who spend much of their lives in the digital world.

And pray for me—that in all the things I am building, I never become so occupied with the work that I forget the One for whom I am building it.

Help me remember what matters most.

Jesus first.

Always.

A prayer with Saint Carlo Acutis

Lord Jesus,

Thank You for the gift of Saint Carlo Acutis.

Thank You for showing us that holiness is not limited by age, generation, profession, or circumstance.

Teach me to see the gifts You have placed within me not merely as things I possess, but as things I can surrender to You.

Give me wisdom in the digital world.

Give me discernment about what I watch, what I create, what I share, and what I allow to shape my heart.

Help me use technology without allowing technology to use me.

Give me Carlo's love for the Eucharist.

Give me his joy.

Give me his courage.

Give me his desire to make You known.

And as I build, work, learn, and dream, keep my heart anchored in You.

May everything I create serve what is good.

May everything I build reflect what is beautiful.

And may everything ultimately lead back to You.

Jesus, I trust in You.

Saint Carlo Acutis, pray for us. ❤️