Happy Birthday Emmir Nogueira!!
Thank you for your motherhood! We wish you a life full of blessings and love! May God bless you and guide you! Happy Birthday! Shalom Toronto!
“He filled my days with endless wonder”
“Because You know me, Lord. You know me more than myself.I am known by God, I am loved by God. He is the reason and meaning of my life” My name is Paula, I am a Brazilian missionary of Shalom Catholic Community living in Toronto for the past 4 years. When I look back I just can’t help being amazed by the love that has always surrounded me. I was raised Catholic but with no big faith. My family’s faith in God, as like many others, was connected with our success and well being. If everything was going well then our relationship with God was well too, which meant that our church attendance went according to our mood. It was ...
Pope tells bishops to be guardians of memory and hope
Pope Francis told Korean Bishops to be guardians of memory and guardians of hope. Speaking to his brother bishops on the first day of his apostolic journey to the Republic of Korea, Pope Francis recalled the seeds sown by Korean martyrs which, he said, “brought forth an abundant harvest of grace in this land”, and called on them to guard the hope of the Gospel by “keeping alive the flame of holiness, fraternal charity and missionary zeal within the Church’s communion.” The Church in Korea, the Pope said, is esteemed for its role in the spiritual and cultural life of the nation and its strong missionary impulse, and – he continued – “being guardians of memory means more than remembering ...
Pope Francis: To have a dialogue with God we need to make ourselves like a small child
Pope Francis said God is like a gentle father who holds us by the hand and we need to become like a small child to have a dialogue with Him. This was the focus of his homily during the Mass he celebrated on Friday in the Santa Marta residence. June 27th is the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Pope’s homily was a reflection on the nature of the love between God and his people. He described this feast as a celebration of God’s love in Jesus Christ. “There are two aspects to this love. First, love is more about giving than receiving. Second, love is more about actions than words. When we say it’s more ...
Way of Peace: a path of witnesses
“When the Risen Jesus appeared to the disciples in the cenacle, His first word was ‘Shalom’ (…) On that day, which is the day that the Lord has made for us, Jesus gave His disciples access to the way of Peace” (Letter to the Community) The Way of Peace is a formative itinerary to all prayer group members who are part of Shalom Work. The itinerary seeks to lead each person from a personal experience with Jesus Christ to the maturity of faith, the holiness of life and to help them to become true witnesses of the Gospel. It uses specific resources and contents. As the first members of Shalom Catholic Community started to deepen their spiritual life together, following the initial ...
Pope Francis: Church a Mother not a NGO
Pope Francis opened the Ecclesial Convention of the Diocese of Rome on Monday night, emphasizing the Church’s role of Mother in a society where more and more children are leading the life of an orphan. Pope Francis began his remarks by stating that over the past year, he has made numerous parish visits in the Diocese of Rome, where he has met a great number of people, however briefly. “They have expressed their hopes and expectations, along with their pains and problems,” he said. The Holy Father noted that many people feel “disoriented”, with the difficulties of life, often lacking meaning and value. He then imagined the “hectic day” of a parent: getting up early, getting the children to school, ...
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is also known as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which translates from Latin to “Body of Christ.” This feast originated in France in the midthirteenth century and was extended to the whole Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264. This feast is celebrated on the Thursday following the Trinity Sunday or, as in the USA, on the Sunday following that feast. This feast calls us to focus on two manifestations of the Body of Christ, the Holy Eucharist and the Church. The primary purpose of this feast is to focus our attention on the Eucharist. The opening prayer at Mass calls our attention to Jesus’ suffering and death and ...
Pentecost Day: “I am sending upon you what the Father has promised”
It is very common to hear some Christians saying “oh, how I wish to have lived in the time of Jesus, being there side by side with Him, listening to His words, touching his garment and seeing His deed”. Definitely it must have been a unique experience for those who were near Him. However, the people who lived alongside with Jesus didn’t have full understanding of what was going on. Our Lord Jesus wasn’t clearly understood by those who were closer to Him. We can verify this in the Gospel in many occasions when He said “don’t you yet understand?” (Matt 15:16; Mk 8:17; Jn 8:43; Mk 4:11-13). We see sometimes the disciples, sometimes Peter, asking Him to explain the ...
Pope: the Church is not a rental house, but a home
Pope Francis focused his daily homily on Jesus’ prayer for the unity of his disciples, cautioning that there are many in the Church who call themselves Catholic, but are only half committed. There are some groups that “rent the Church, but do not claim it as their home,” the Pope observed during his June 5 daily Mass, stating that the Church “is not a house to rent” but rather “is a home to live in.” Centering his reflections on Jesus’ prayer in John’s Gospel that “all might be one,” the Roman Pontiff explained that there are many people who appear to have “one foot inside” the Church and one foot out, so that they can have “the possibility of being ...
How I met Pope Francis
During the week before the Canonization of John Paul II and John XXIII, members of Shalom Community from many countries, took part in a pilgrimage to Rome where they shared an unforgettable experience of being part of the Holy Church’s family and also as one big family Shalom. Among many other pilgrims, some of them had the providential opportunity to meet Pope Francis face to face. Each of these encounters was a great joy to, as a Community, once again renew the love and fidelity for the Holy Father and to offer their lives in the service of Mother Church. This is how they met the Pope: Jullierme Oliveira, Celibate: “When he saw the name ‘shalom’ he promptly opened a ...
