The sunday of divine mercy is how is called the second sunday of easter. This name has been given by John Paul II as a response to the message of Merciful Jesus to Saint Faustina, as she said in her spiritual diary:
“Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: “Jesus, I trust in You”. […] I want this image, which you will paint with a brush, to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy. I desire that priests proclaim this great mercy of Mine towards the souls of sinners” (Diary, 47-49).
This year (2016), Pope Francis invited everyone who is spiritually linked to the divine Mercy to participate all together, on Saint Peter’s Square, to this Fe ast. For this reason, Shalom catholic community was present, with its founder, Moysés Azevedo, and its co-founder, Emmir Nogueira.
The Spirituality of the Divine Mercy in Shalom Community
The Shalom spirituality has, as a christological foundation, the passage of John 20, 19 in which Jesus appears to his disciples, and communicates his peace: Shalom!
In Shalom spirituality, each person is invited to identify with Thomas incredulous, and by touching Jesus’ opened side, to experience God’s mercy and to become a man of faith. From this experience, we are invited to meet the new Thomas, who are those who still don’t believe, and need to meet the Lord and to experience the Divine Mercy.
Shalom Community
Shalom Catholic Community was born in 1982, in the city of Fortaleza in Brazil, where a group of young people who wanted to evangelize other youngs who were far from the Church, created a snack bar, called the Snack Shalom. Exactly two years before the snack, the founder of Shalom Community, offered his life to God and to the Church, as a gift to the evangelization of the youth through a letter to the Pope, who was John Paul II, on his visit in Fortaleza.