From August 20th to 23rd, the Shalom Catholic Community is holding a Retreat for all Life and the Covenant Community. The virtual meeting brings the sharing of what God spoke to the General Council during this year’s “Listening Retreat”. On this first day of the meeting, Moysés Azevedo, founder of the Community, shared about the grace of the 40 years of the Shalom Vocation. The missionary highlighted that this is a time of salvation, gratitude and praise.
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Moysés emphasized that also in this time, God renews the election and His love for each missionary of the Community. Besides, this is a time of closing a chapter in our life offering and beginning a new one, marked by the reconstruction that God wants to operate and also by the hope and joy that He Himself wants to give to all of us. The founder reinforced that in this moment it is important to return to the essence of the Shalom Vocation: the offering of life. It is not the time to keep anything for oneself, but to offer it all to God.
Also during the preaching, Moysés stressed the importance of the offering of life as a community and not in isolation or in an individualistic way. “We cannot offer ourselves alone, we are a people, we are not a ‘bunch’ of people together, we are a people that is called Shalom Community, which has a common charisma, which has a common identity. According to the founder, when the isolation of the members of the Community happens, the offering of life weakens, loses its strength and power. He also explained that the true total offering of the people needs to be humble and spousal.
Shalom 40 years: going back to the origin
Moysés, inspired by the Lord, further invited all members to return to the essence of the Shalom Vocation.
“Shalom, for you to return to your essence, for you to be what I thought for you, for this new time that is inaugurated, time of renewal of election and love, reconstruction, hope and joy, sowing and abundant harvests, I make you return to your origin, and your origin is a total offering, a holocaust, so that everything becomes a perfume of pleasant fragrance,” he highlighted.