The 22nd of February 2012, the day of the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, the Statutes of Shalom Catholic Community have been definitely approved. According to our founder, Moysés Azevedo, the fact that the Statutes of the Community were approved on this day means that we exist to profess the faith of Peter. This is the meaning of our existence. That is why God created us, that God has constituted this spiritual family. The reason why Shalom exists is to profess Peter’s faith. And when Peter professes his faith, who does he say? Jesus was have a dialog with his disciples, in a pagan region, and asked: “Who do people say I am?” And they answered a lots of things about what the people said about Jesus. And Jesus: “And you, who do you say I am?” or “the world says all these things, some say that I am Elias, others say that I am one of the prophets, others John the Baptist who is risen from the dead”. And Jesus said “And you?”, the disciples… “And you, who do you say I am?”. So Peter said, in the name of all “You are the Christ, the son of the living God!”
This is Peter’s faith that we are called, as Shalom, to profess and announce. “You are the Christ, the son of the living God!” When we profess Peter’s faith, we are saying that Jesus is the salvation of the world, that he is the hope and the joy of the world, that he is the meaning of our lives. Jesus Christ is the Lord. It is this faith that we are called to live and to profess. Our joy is no longer in the material goods that the world can offer, our hope is no longer in our intellectual potential. Our hope and our joy are in having Jesus as the meaning of our lives. And to have our faith in Him. Because if I were with Him, even if everything around me were only tribulation, i Have Hope and Joy, Charity, Salvation. If I had everything but did not have my life founded in Christ, my life would be “empty”, without meaning. When I say with Peter “Jesus You are the Christ, the son of the living God”, I am professing that He is my hope, my joy and my salvation. As Shalom, this is our mission: to profess Peter’s faith, to announce this faith.
