Hajja Salesjana October-November 2020

7 H AJJA S ALESJANA his grandfather came to him and asked him to pray for him because he was in purgatory. So, from there, Carlo began praying for the souls in purgatory — always, always, always he prayed for these souls and sought indulgences for them. He would always say we must pray for the poor souls in purgatory, that we shouldn’t forget them, and that they will help us very much. Many stories about the lives of the saints are often hard to relate to. Tell me about Carlo — what were some of his “imperfections” that young men and women may be able to relate to? You don’t have to look to Carlo as someone who was perfect. He was a very grounded boy. He was a son of his time. He played with his PlayStation, etc. He also understood, however, that these things — such as the computer or PlayStation — could claim a sort of “tyranny” over the soul. You could become addicted, a slave of these things. So much time could be wasted, and Carlo always had a sense that he couldn’t waste time. So he imposed on himself that he could only play on his PlayStation an hour per week, maximum. This gives you a little insight into Carlo. He was one who would write in his journal about how to improve himself: “How am I with my parents? How well do I obey my teachers and get along with my classmates?” He was a little perfectionist, but not obsessive. He always tried to improve. So a few imperfections he had. He loved to eat, and at one point, he found he was overindulging. He, then, imposed on himself more temperance — to eat and enjoy food, but in the proper times and proper way. He struggled, but he achieved it. Another thing, he had the habit of talking a lot. He would do it, and he did it well — even when he was in school, he found this difficult. His teachers would correct him, and he found this was a difficult thing to overcome. He was also a bit of a class clown, very funny. He would draw little cartoons, 3-D cartoons on the computer, to amuse his friends, but he also had to temper that, so to do it at the proper time. He was a normal boy in many ways. So he was not perfect, but he had a very strong will — and with this will, he improved himself in many ways. He would say, “ What does it matter if you can win a thousand battles if you cannot win against your own corrupt passions? It doesn’t matter. The real battle is with ourselves .” The Catholic Church has always used technological advances to spread the Gospel. How did Carlo become interested in technology — and if he were alive, today, do you think he’d be using social media? Oh, no. I don’t actually believe he would have been too much on Facebook or Twitter. Carlo was very aware of the need to use time well, and even back then — they had instant messaging — he thought this was a very bad use of time. He would say that instant messenger was annoying! He was a programmer. I think he would have used the internet to create websites, but he always saw learning how to do this as a tool for evangelization. He also would say that people, with this technology, were losing their freedom. Even then he saw that