A Teen's Final Words Reveal a Life of Faith and Fragility

(our website) - It was a typical fall day like any other in 2011 when Marco Gallo, a 17-year-old from northern Italy, rode his scooter to school.

The past month had been a difficult time, marked by a heightened awareness on the frailty of human mortality. The tragic deaths of Italian professional motorcycle racer Marco Simoncelli, who died in an accident during the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix, as well as the death of an acquaintance prompted an existential reflection in the young teen.

'Life is short, it can't be wasted'

After a minor accident involving a schoolmate who had slipped and fallen, Marco wrote to one of his friends: "Can you imagine? It could have happened to me," and he added, "Life is short, it can't be wasted."

On the evening of Nov. 4, 2011, he decided to write his final reflection on the recent events on the wall of his room.

The following day, as he rode to school, he was struck by a vehicle and died.

Marco's mother, Paola Cevasco, recalled discovering the words he had etched on the wall in big letters right next to the San Damiano cross that hung in his room: "Why do you seek the living one among the dead?"

The words, taken from the Gospel of Luke, were said by angels to the women who found the empty tomb.

Comforting reminder amid grief

For Cevasco, the words written by her son offered a comforting reminder amid her and her family's grief that death does not destroy everything.

"He had big questions on what God wants to tell us. And that's why he wrote it. He was conscious that the question of what is life, what is death, was truly gigantic," Cevasco told our website March 19.

"He wasn't someone who overwhelmed people; he respected them, he valued them. He might spend an afternoon playing with you, and then afterward he would get to what he called 'the heart of the matter,'" she said.

'True joy in his love for Jesus'

The edict declaring the opening of his cause noted that Marco "loved life, asked many questions, and above all, found the source of true joy in his love for Jesus and his neighbor."

Cevasco said she and her husband, Antonio Gallo, saw their faith as "a fulfillment of our humanity, something beautiful, the 'hundredfold' that the Lord promises in this life, which is so fascinating. And, to be honest, something that involves suffering as well."

'A fulfillment of our humanity'

However, they did not seek to impose their faith on Marco or his two sisters, Francesca and Veronica, because "if God created us free, how could we impose it ourselves?"

Like his sisters, she noted, Marco was someone who always asked questions "but never in an intrusive way."

'Heart of the matter'

Cevasco told our website that from a young age, Marco had always been "a bit different" and that he "had a very marked sensitivity."

A favorite Church hymn

In hindsight, Cevasco said she really noticed his search for a profound spirituality when he was 15. He handed her a paper with a reflection on a Church hymn, "Io non sono degno" ("I am not worthy").

Pondering life's 'ultimate questions'

In it, he wrote "that in life ultimate questions often arise, and he analyzes what can also be the desire to try things, to do things, to distract oneself, what he called 'the idol of Saturday night.' And he explains how, when it passes, it leaves you with an even greater bitterness," the mother recalled.

After his death, his family was able to find more of his writings on his "search for happiness" and compiled them in a book titled, "Anche i sassi si sarebbero messi a saltellare" ("Even Stones Would Have Started Skipping.")

Conclusion

That search for true happiness was something he carried with him, literally, till the end of his short life. Among the items found in his wallet after his death were an image of Our Lady of Medjugorje and a note.