Sanctity is For All Ages, says Pope Benedict XVI. Two Stories of Inspiring Courage

Receiving a delegation of youth from the group Italian Catholic Action yesterday, the Pope spoke of young Antonia Meo, a former member of the group who died of cancer in 1937 at age 7, whose cause for canonization has been recently introduced. Citing her "faith, hope and charity" as a model for the young, the Pope said that "her existence, so simple and yet so important, shows that sanctity is for all ages: for babies and for young people, for adults and for the elderly."

He went on to remind all, that "God made Himself man to show us the way. Indeed, by becoming a child He made Himself 'the way', also for young people like you: He was like you, He was your age."

The rest of the article can be read at EWTN News.

A story from the Catholic News Agency earlier this fall highlights the heroic sanctity of another Italian youth, Carlo Acutis, who was just 15 when he succumbed to leukemia in 2006. According to the article, Carlo

was a teen of our times, like many others. He tried hard in school, with his friends, [and] he loved computers. At the same time he was a great friend of Jesus Christ, he was a daily communicant and he trusted in the Virgin Mary.

As a little boy, especially after his First Communion, he never missed his daily appointment with the Holy Mass and the Rosary, followed by a moment of Eucharistic adoration, recalls his mother, Antonia Acutis.

With this intense spiritual life, Carlo has fully and generously lived his fifteen years of life, leaving a profound impact on those who knew him. He was an expert with computers, he read books on computer engineering and left everyone in awe, but he put his gift at the service of others and used it to help his friends, she added.

His immense generosity made him interested in everyone: the foreigners, the handicapped, children, beggars. To be close to Carlo was to be close to a fountain of fresh water, his mother said.

Antonia recalls clearly that shortly before his death, Carlo offered his sufferings for the Pope and the Church. Surely the heroism with which he faced his illness and death has convinced many that he was truly somebody special. When the doctor that was treating him asked him if he was suffering a lot, Carlo answered: There are people who suffer much more than me!

The postulator for causes of the Milan Archdiocese suggests that the cause for Carlo's cause for beatification could be opened soon.

Read the rest of this story at Catholic News Agency.

As we prepare to welcome God among us as that little child on Christmas, these stories show how striving for sanctity is possible for all of us, even the very young!