Moysés Louro de Azevedo Filho met with a group of young people from Shalom Rome at SH82, located in one of the Italian capital’s most “informal” neighborhoods, San Lorenzo. The study space, open free of charge to everyone, has increasingly become a crossroads of encounters and shared life, where more and more young people arrive and discover the beauty of healthy relationships with other young people — and, perhaps, with God as well.
“In Your Hearts There Is a Desire for Greatness”
“It’s Saturday night, and you’re here meeting a 66-year-old man talking about Jesus. That means there is a great desire for something higher within your hearts — something greater than yourselves. We all long for something beyond ourselves because, deep down, we long for God. That is the truth.”
Responding to the doubts and questions raised by the young people, the Shalom founder dismantled the familiar narrative portraying youth as weak and directionless. At age 20, he launched a new wave of evangelization starting from a small sandwich shop in Brazil. With gentle honesty, he pointed back to what he described as the essential spark of youth: seeking and loving the truth, longing for happiness — that is, for God — even amid difficulties and uncertainty. Today, just as in the past.
“You Are Capable of God’s Love”
“If we look at newspapers and television,” he said, “they always say, ‘young people are fragile.’ There is always mistrust toward the young. But I believe you are capable of God’s love, capable of peace. Who doesn’t have weaknesses and struggles? When I was young, people told me, ‘you are fragile, you are weak.’ And it’s true — every generation has its weaknesses. But we are not simply products of our generation; we are also shaped by God’s grace. With God, we find healing for our weaknesses.”
Moysés also noted: “You are deeply compassionate. In you, I see this desire for God, perhaps even stronger than in the previous generation.”
The young people present said they were deeply moved by his words and by the spirit of the evening. They felt they were hearing not just an inspiring speech, but the fruit of a real and radical experience that has gradually spread from Brazil to every continent.
Never Wanting to Stop Praying
“As a child, my parents practically dragged me to church, and at one point I felt distant,” Moysés recalled. “But not distant from that desire. At 16, I wanted to be happy at any cost. And when I discovered that happiness is a Person, my life changed.”
That same Person — Jesus — continues to surprise young people in search of meaning and continues to shape Moysés himself, even 44 years after the founding of the Shalom Catholic Community.
Overcoming Fear and Temptation
“Have you experienced fear and temptation?” asked Roberta, a 28-year-old volunteer with Shalom Rome. “It’s not that I had fear — I have fear,” Moysés answered candidly. “Fear is human. The problem is allowing ourselves to be ruled by it.”
One particularly powerful moment focused on the theme of freedom — something every young person naturally longs for. “The Father’s will can seem like a threat to our freedom. That is a deception. Jesus sees farther than we do; our vision is limited.”
And what about temptation? “I’ve had temptations, and I still do. Jesus Himself was tempted. I overcome them through prayer, by seeking union with Him, His presence, His will. Without prayer, I am nothing. Being docile to God’s plan of love is the secret of life. It helps us overcome temptations, which bring distrust in God and try to prevent us from reaching the fullness of life.”
Prayer: A Gift to Be Asked For
Like a river overflowing its banks, Moysés continued responding to the profound and demanding questions posed by the young people. One of them came from Teresa, 21, who asked what to do when praying feels difficult.
“When I was younger,” the founder replied, “I couldn’t pray. Today, my problem is that I can’t stop praying — seriously! But be careful: prayer is not something we simply ‘do.’ It is a gift that must be asked of God. If we ask Him for it, we will arrive at intimacy with Him, and we will spread that love to others as well.”
Outside SH82, on Via dei Sardi, Rome’s Saturday-night nightlife pulsed with energy. Inside the Shalom space, however, a quiet and burning fire was preparing many young hearts for Pentecost.
Young People Share Their Stories
In addition to their questions, the young people also shared personal testimonies with Moysés: loneliness, rebirth after the emptiness of atheism or spirituality without God, fears and courageous steps, the desire to love and be loved, experiences of liberation, and strong friendships rooted in Christ.
The young man who, in 1982, imagined this new way of evangelizing embraced each young man and woman individually. He shared dinner with them between courses prepared by volunteer women from the Shalom Work in Rome.
It was a tender yet powerful embrace — as strong as the conviction with which he reaffirmed the foundations of a life that remains truly youthful in spirit and fruitful through the radicalism of the Gospel.
Serving at the tables were other young missionaries from the Global South who have come to offer their mission here in Italy — a land of new evangelization — helping sustain the fire of faith and accompany other young people on their journey.
Also participating in the evening were Father Saulo Dantas and Father Gianni Tescaro, a concrete sign of communion with the wider Church in Rome.
