“Pentecost of Love” was the theme of the meeting and the main goal was to ask God for a renewed experience of Spousal Love in order to have hearts on fire, with the desire to evangelize young people through the powerful action of the Holy Spirit in each one.
Emmir Nogueira, the co-founder of the community explained that the theme of the retreat is the result of the General Council Listening Retreat. “We are here to meditate on what God has inspired, revealed and promised to us for this year.” According to her, the Lord wants to give the gift of discernment to the members of the Community. For this, it is necessary to purify the attitude of listening, to empty oneself and to incarnate the will of God with a Marian and small heart before God. “This is the time of the Holy Spirit and Spousal Love,” she said. “In view of a new outpouring, it’s important to be aware of who we are. We are dry chaff which is set afire to turn it into a bonfires.” Another prophecy revealed, according to Emmir, is that God also raises a generation of young celibates for the kingdom of God who are to be beacons to the world.
The founder of the Community, Moysés Azevedo, highlighted the calling for a “conversion to young people” that means “to fall in love with God and with them, to betroth them in Christ, to be devoted to them, to love them as Jesus loves them.” He recalled Pope Francis’s message to the Community in Shalom Convention 35 years where the pontiff pointed on the communion of older with the younger members: “The older ones still have much to give and they will be enriched by the youth of the younger ones.” Finally he added: “Wisdom is perseverance and the way indicated by God is compassion, commotion, taking risks, welcoming and the intercession for the young”. He concluded with an invitation: “Let’s go to meet the young people!“
The Community Retreat is now moving on to other Shalom houses. Currently, there are already 103 missions in Brazil, 29 abroad, in addition to 60 diffusion works in Brazil and eight abroad.