On the last day of the Shalom 40 Years Convention, the founder of the Community, Moysés Azevedo, highlighted the main moments that will mark these days of pilgrimage to Rome. According to Moysés, God “is inaugurating a new mission in our Community”. For him, the message of Pope Francis in the private audience with the Community is “a compass, a book that gives direction for the coming years”. Check below some points highlighted by the founder.
Friends of God – Primacy of Prayer life and God’s Grace
“What moves us forward is the fundamental experience with the person of Jesus Christ that each of us once had, was touched by grace, and was visited by God. That changed my story, it changed my life. The Pope reminded us of that, our vocation was not born in a project, but by His grace. Our vocation exists, it only remains by the grace of God. Never forget this: the primacy of grace, the primacy of God and the primacy of prayer.”
Inspired by the Listening magazine of 2021 we received a special gift: an icon written for the Shalom Convention. Which represents the concrete fruit of our experience with God and prayer, the image of the Eucharistic Spouse’s procession. This is one of the images that marked the pilgrims during the days of the event.
Friends of the Poor: Abandonment, mercy and compassion for the pain of others
“In a friendship, we give and we receive. How many are in need of God’s grace! We need to love them and become one with them, because Christ has done this to us. The Shalom Catholic Community and the poor, giving their gifts, exchanging their gifts, can walk together towards the Kingdom. May we allow ourselves to be reached by the graces of God, to be what God wants us to be. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, in the Pope’s message, recognized Christ in the face of those abandoned in the streets. That is how she saciated her thirst. The Pope provoked us, that we may be provoked by the Spirit to be a friend of the poor”.
On the 2nd day of official programming, several testimonies moved everyone who followed the Convention, in Rome or through the official broadcast. Among them, a young Polish woman, who shared her experience of going on a mission and serving Ukrainian refugees. The young woman declared that she had at that moment a concrete experience with the Gospel of Christ. See the full testimony here:
Friends of the Young: They are the today and the future of the Church
“Friendship with young people: young people are the crown and joy of the Community. It was with a debt of love to young people that I was driven to offer my life. Everything passes, and the sooner eternity enters someone’s life and the heart of a young person, the fuller and happier, eternally, we will live. A young person one day forms a family, he is a priest, he is celibate, he is a professional, he is a wisdom of God, a path of God, we must all have this very particular love, this burning desire to see the shine in young people. The Pope told young people that the first role is holiness. God wants a holier world and that will not happen without young people who embrace holiness. The world needs the scent of holiness, it changes history and it changes the world. Young saints!”
During the roundtable on the Meeting of Generations, the founder of the Shalom Community spoke about the experience of evangelizing young people. Responding to the question: “Why young people continue to be the primacy of our charism even after 40 years”, Moyses highlighted the need to give God to young people who are looking for happiness.
Let’s be saints, let’s go on a mission with our heart inflamed of love!
“We are here to be sent on a mission. Having received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was this Convention, to be able to go out on mission, to go out with our hearts transformed, turned towards holiness. We have our spousal relationship with God, with the young and the poor, but also with all of humanity. I love the other so much that his pain becomes mine. God loves me and I can love, comfort, care for those in need. The Pope reminded us of this: ‘your community is characterized by creative courage, welcome and missionary zeal. I bless the Lord for this, keep your creative courage, acceptance and missionary impulse alive. Please don’t become a museum, you are not museum people, but people who walk with creative courage, acceptance and missionary zeal”.
Service
Shalom Convention 40 years
Date: 23rd to 28th of September
Location: Rome
Theme: Shalom: Friends of God, Friends of the Young and Friends of the Poor
More information: http://comshalom.org/40anos