From WYD to MSH: a journey to where I am today
During the summer of 2018, I was asked by the Youth Leader of the Shalom Catholic Community in Toronto to form a small group to go to the Panama World Youth Day. Little did I know that this mission within my missionnary life would change it drastically, and eventually lead me where I am today, singing lead in one of Brazil's most famous Catholic bands, Missionário Shalom. For those who don't know what the World Youth Day is, let me break it down for you.
The WYD for dummies
Imagine a huge encounter with young people from all over the world (millions of them), most of them happen to be Catholics. They meet in a different place every 2 or 3 years and live amazing moments together for one week, from Monday to Sunday. Usually, the week before, they go to another part of the country or region to know it a bit more and evangelize. By the middle of the WYD week, they receive a special guest: none other than the Pope himself, who stays with them until the end of the week.
The World Youth Day is an initiative of the Pope of the Youth, Saint John Paul II since 1985, and it has been ongoing since. When asked if I could take over this responsability, I had already gone to three WYDs: Madrid in 2011, Rio in 2013 and Krakow in 2016 (in which God confirmed my vocation as a missionnary in the Shalom Catholic Community). I wasn't exactly planning on going to Panama, but since I'm crazy for Latin American countries, they didn't exactly have to beg me to go. That group was God's perfect excuse. I started spreading the news within the Youth Prayer Group I was the shepherd of (aka Coordinator), hoping that one of the teenage girls or young adults of the group would come with me. They were all psyched at first, but as months went by, it became obvious that none of them would go. There was this one girl from Vancouver though, who had gotten to know the Community through friends, and had entered in contact with a missionnary from Toronto to go to the WYD with us. She had already bought her ticket and inscription with Shalom. So just for of her, I decided not to cancel the group and go. She was just going to the actual WYD week. However, the pre-WYD with Shalom was going to be in Costa Rica, a country I was curious to know, as one of the guys from the Youth Group, who was doing the Vocational Year at that time, was from there. Something inside of me urged me to attend. I identified it as a desire to serve and help my Community, which would most likely need people who speak fluent Spanish. I eventually convinced Mario to come with me, both to Costa Rica to visit his family AND to the WYD in Panama.
How it all started
One year ago today as I write this article (January 12, 2019), Mario and I landed in San José, Costa Rica. I stayed with his family for a few days in Herera, after which I joinded my brothers to the pre-WYD in San José. The week included evangelization of the locals, trips to touristic places, and a show of Missionnário Shalom, among other activities. I stayed in a beautiful family and was able to meet and see again missionnaries that had visited the Toronto mission like Gabriela Dias, a beloved sister whose celibaby has brought many fruits to the community and allows her to coordinate events such as the WYD.
During a mass with the Archbishop of San José, she granted me a mission: host the Halleluya Festival which would take place during the WYD in Panama. Just to give you an idea, in Brazil, The Halleluya Festival is the biggest Art festival in Latin America. It's probably the biggest Catholic Music festival worldwide. We invite Christian artists from all over the world on our stage, which we also use to evangelize through adoration, as well as a Space of Mercy where people can receive the sacrament of Reconciliation or get some counselling by a missionnary. In other words, it was pretty much a big deal for a postulant of the Shalom Community like me who had never been close to our founder! Well, I got close alright! On top of presenting the artists along with three other missionnaries, I was asked to translate to Spanish the words of our founder Moysés and the other people who spoke during the adoration that happened every evening during the three days of the festival. I then perceived God's providence in not letting any teeneger be part of my group, as I wouldn't have been able to embrace this mission, since I was at the Halleluya all day long during 3 of the 7 days of the WYD. The two young adults of my group were perfectly able to take care of themselves, which allowed me to serve without worries. Of course, Missionário Shalom was there, they sang at the Halleluya and in diverse occasions during the WYD, as the song "Eis-Me Aqui" had become a popular hymn of the encounter, people from all over the world couldn't get enough of this Catholic Reggaeton song made for the occasion.
At some point, the animators ran out of clothes to wear, as we were switching clothes 2 or 3 times a day! Towards the end of the festival, our stylist sent me to ask Gustavo, the leader of the band, if they had any more of their WYD t-shirts, which were selling like little hot breads. Unfortunately they were sold out, but at least the ice was broken between me and my brothers. I introduced myself and gave them a hand shake. We met a couple of times after that and warmly greeted each other each time. The WYD came to and end and Mario and I flew back home to Toronto. I was completely grateful and mesmerized by the experience I had had with our charisma. Through the World Youth Day, God had fulfilled a promise he had made me months ago, to renew my strength, which I much needed in the midst of all my missionnary responsabilities.
Back to life, back to reality
Months went by. I got a promotion at work which changed my schedules in such a way that I started working in evenings and week-ends. I became unable to attend my cell, which is our weekly prayer and formation meeting. I could hardly assume my duties as shepherd of my Youth Prayer Group. During two months, I started looking for a new job that would allow me to live my vocation again, and I finally did, within the same bank I had been working in for the last year and a half. The job was perfect, a continuation of my previous promotion, but with the 9 to 5 schedule I had never had and had been yearning all that time.
Unexpected news
One day, my local responsible called me for a one-on-one meeting. He started talking about music and my service within the Community. I thought he was referring to a tense situation we had just gotten out of in our Music Ministry. So when he mentionned that he had been talking to Gustavo, I imagined that perhabs he got some tips from him about how to handle a music ministry or something. When he said that Gustavo was asking if I wanted to join Missionário Shalom, I was like: "You're joking, right?" He wasn't. I couldn't believe it! I said yes right away! I couldn't understand where this came from, as I barely sang a note during the Halleluya. I would later know the details of the discernement process on their end, perhabs I'll write about it in another article. I thought the process that followed would be fast and easy. Well, I was quite wrong.
Wait, wait and wait some more...
In my community, any decision-making must be the fruit of a discernment, that is making a decision based on prayer and reflection in God. Sounds lenghty, right? Well, it is! My answer was accepted right away by the band, who then had to bring it to the General Council of our Community (that includes our founder Moysés), which had to contact the Missionnary Assistance, organ that sends the missionnaries on mission and takes care of all the procedures. Normally, someone from Covenant Community like me (missionnaries who work, stay where they are and assume their mission duties while living in their hometown with their family, as opposed to Life Community, which are full-time missionnaries who leave their nuclear family and occupations to dedicate themselves to the mission) have to send a letter to request to go on mission and live as Life Community during a determined amount of time, usually 2 to 3 years. It can take up to 3 months to receive and answer from the Community after the letter is sent. Well, I didn't have to send a letter, and my discernment was only 3 weeks, but they felt like 3 months to me! During that time, I had to keep the news to myself, I couldn't quit my job or make any travelling arrangements, even though I was supposed to leave a month away to be there in time for the Halleluya in Fortaleza, the biggest of all Halleluyas, which attracts over 1 million people within the 4 days of the festival. I finally got my confirmation after 3 weeks of crying everyday as I mourned my new job (which I never started), the biggest stability I had had in the last 10 years travelling the world, my appartment, my mission, my youth, my family, my power in the whole process...
A new day has come
I arrived in Fortaleza on July 12, 2019, 7 months ago. Since then, it has been a rollercoaster ride: crazy highs from performing in front of hundreds of thousands of people, living in the heart of our Community near our founder, travelling all over Brazil (and the world soon, as I will travel on my first international mission with MSH this summer), appearing on National TV... and the lows of being constantly in the public eye, suffering the pressure that comes with always having to look flawless, living as Life Community when my calling is to be Covenant Community... Every new day brings a new cross and a new Resurrection, because this is our life as missionnaries! And this life brings us joy! My biggest joy since I joined the Community is waking up every morning and knowing that I am where God wants me to be, doing what he wants me to do. I know that there is no greater place to use the talents God gave me than where I am right here, right now, for as long as the Lord calls me to this mission. Every day, he renews my strength and my decision through the daily prayer time that the Life Community members are lucky to have.
I dreamed a dream
Yesterday, as we were performing on National Television, I started thanking God. I almost thanked him for making my dreams come true, than I corrected myself. Singing in Missionário Shalom was never a dream, I never could have dreamed of something this big in terms of singing for God. Besides, the few times that people had joked about it as a possibility or even predicted it to me (a brother once told me after a prayer that he had had a visualization of me singing in MSH), I brushed it off because it seemed technically impossible. I had dreamed of being a superstar in the secular world, but as I my relationship with Christ deepened, I realized it would not fill me. Then I started singing for God "solo", and it did not fill me either. Something was missing. It's this something that I ended up thanking God for. For filling the whole that was empty, that is, using my gifts for something much bigger than myself, my own glory...
I remember sitting in an empty Church in Montreal, a few years ago, at a mass, praying: "Lord, what can I do for my Church? I want to do something. I want to bring people back into the Church." And God gave me my vocation. And then He gave me this mission. That is true happiness. A happiness that doesn't pass.
Links:
Missionário Shalom (portuguese):
https://www.comshalom.org/missionarioshalom/
"Eis-me Aqui" video by MSH:
https://youtu.be/KKLmgs-4kcU
World Youth Day:
https://worldyouthday.com/
Shalom Catholic Community:
https://www.comshalom.org/en/
The WYD for dummies
Imagine a huge encounter with young people from all over the world (millions of them), most of them happen to be Catholics. They meet in a different place every 2 or 3 years and live amazing moments together for one week, from Monday to Sunday. Usually, the week before, they go to another part of the country or region to know it a bit more and evangelize. By the middle of the WYD week, they receive a special guest: none other than the Pope himself, who stays with them until the end of the week.
The World Youth Day is an initiative of the Pope of the Youth, Saint John Paul II since 1985, and it has been ongoing since. When asked if I could take over this responsability, I had already gone to three WYDs: Madrid in 2011, Rio in 2013 and Krakow in 2016 (in which God confirmed my vocation as a missionnary in the Shalom Catholic Community). I wasn't exactly planning on going to Panama, but since I'm crazy for Latin American countries, they didn't exactly have to beg me to go. That group was God's perfect excuse. I started spreading the news within the Youth Prayer Group I was the shepherd of (aka Coordinator), hoping that one of the teenage girls or young adults of the group would come with me. They were all psyched at first, but as months went by, it became obvious that none of them would go. There was this one girl from Vancouver though, who had gotten to know the Community through friends, and had entered in contact with a missionnary from Toronto to go to the WYD with us. She had already bought her ticket and inscription with Shalom. So just for of her, I decided not to cancel the group and go. She was just going to the actual WYD week. However, the pre-WYD with Shalom was going to be in Costa Rica, a country I was curious to know, as one of the guys from the Youth Group, who was doing the Vocational Year at that time, was from there. Something inside of me urged me to attend. I identified it as a desire to serve and help my Community, which would most likely need people who speak fluent Spanish. I eventually convinced Mario to come with me, both to Costa Rica to visit his family AND to the WYD in Panama.
How it all started
One year ago today as I write this article (January 12, 2019), Mario and I landed in San José, Costa Rica. I stayed with his family for a few days in Herera, after which I joinded my brothers to the pre-WYD in San José. The week included evangelization of the locals, trips to touristic places, and a show of Missionnário Shalom, among other activities. I stayed in a beautiful family and was able to meet and see again missionnaries that had visited the Toronto mission like Gabriela Dias, a beloved sister whose celibaby has brought many fruits to the community and allows her to coordinate events such as the WYD.
During a mass with the Archbishop of San José, she granted me a mission: host the Halleluya Festival which would take place during the WYD in Panama. Just to give you an idea, in Brazil, The Halleluya Festival is the biggest Art festival in Latin America. It's probably the biggest Catholic Music festival worldwide. We invite Christian artists from all over the world on our stage, which we also use to evangelize through adoration, as well as a Space of Mercy where people can receive the sacrament of Reconciliation or get some counselling by a missionnary. In other words, it was pretty much a big deal for a postulant of the Shalom Community like me who had never been close to our founder! Well, I got close alright! On top of presenting the artists along with three other missionnaries, I was asked to translate to Spanish the words of our founder Moysés and the other people who spoke during the adoration that happened every evening during the three days of the festival. I then perceived God's providence in not letting any teeneger be part of my group, as I wouldn't have been able to embrace this mission, since I was at the Halleluya all day long during 3 of the 7 days of the WYD. The two young adults of my group were perfectly able to take care of themselves, which allowed me to serve without worries. Of course, Missionário Shalom was there, they sang at the Halleluya and in diverse occasions during the WYD, as the song "Eis-Me Aqui" had become a popular hymn of the encounter, people from all over the world couldn't get enough of this Catholic Reggaeton song made for the occasion.
At some point, the animators ran out of clothes to wear, as we were switching clothes 2 or 3 times a day! Towards the end of the festival, our stylist sent me to ask Gustavo, the leader of the band, if they had any more of their WYD t-shirts, which were selling like little hot breads. Unfortunately they were sold out, but at least the ice was broken between me and my brothers. I introduced myself and gave them a hand shake. We met a couple of times after that and warmly greeted each other each time. The WYD came to and end and Mario and I flew back home to Toronto. I was completely grateful and mesmerized by the experience I had had with our charisma. Through the World Youth Day, God had fulfilled a promise he had made me months ago, to renew my strength, which I much needed in the midst of all my missionnary responsabilities.
 |
| Me at the World Youth Day in Panama |
Months went by. I got a promotion at work which changed my schedules in such a way that I started working in evenings and week-ends. I became unable to attend my cell, which is our weekly prayer and formation meeting. I could hardly assume my duties as shepherd of my Youth Prayer Group. During two months, I started looking for a new job that would allow me to live my vocation again, and I finally did, within the same bank I had been working in for the last year and a half. The job was perfect, a continuation of my previous promotion, but with the 9 to 5 schedule I had never had and had been yearning all that time.
Unexpected news
One day, my local responsible called me for a one-on-one meeting. He started talking about music and my service within the Community. I thought he was referring to a tense situation we had just gotten out of in our Music Ministry. So when he mentionned that he had been talking to Gustavo, I imagined that perhabs he got some tips from him about how to handle a music ministry or something. When he said that Gustavo was asking if I wanted to join Missionário Shalom, I was like: "You're joking, right?" He wasn't. I couldn't believe it! I said yes right away! I couldn't understand where this came from, as I barely sang a note during the Halleluya. I would later know the details of the discernement process on their end, perhabs I'll write about it in another article. I thought the process that followed would be fast and easy. Well, I was quite wrong.
Wait, wait and wait some more...
In my community, any decision-making must be the fruit of a discernment, that is making a decision based on prayer and reflection in God. Sounds lenghty, right? Well, it is! My answer was accepted right away by the band, who then had to bring it to the General Council of our Community (that includes our founder Moysés), which had to contact the Missionnary Assistance, organ that sends the missionnaries on mission and takes care of all the procedures. Normally, someone from Covenant Community like me (missionnaries who work, stay where they are and assume their mission duties while living in their hometown with their family, as opposed to Life Community, which are full-time missionnaries who leave their nuclear family and occupations to dedicate themselves to the mission) have to send a letter to request to go on mission and live as Life Community during a determined amount of time, usually 2 to 3 years. It can take up to 3 months to receive and answer from the Community after the letter is sent. Well, I didn't have to send a letter, and my discernment was only 3 weeks, but they felt like 3 months to me! During that time, I had to keep the news to myself, I couldn't quit my job or make any travelling arrangements, even though I was supposed to leave a month away to be there in time for the Halleluya in Fortaleza, the biggest of all Halleluyas, which attracts over 1 million people within the 4 days of the festival. I finally got my confirmation after 3 weeks of crying everyday as I mourned my new job (which I never started), the biggest stability I had had in the last 10 years travelling the world, my appartment, my mission, my youth, my family, my power in the whole process...
A new day has come
I arrived in Fortaleza on July 12, 2019, 7 months ago. Since then, it has been a rollercoaster ride: crazy highs from performing in front of hundreds of thousands of people, living in the heart of our Community near our founder, travelling all over Brazil (and the world soon, as I will travel on my first international mission with MSH this summer), appearing on National TV... and the lows of being constantly in the public eye, suffering the pressure that comes with always having to look flawless, living as Life Community when my calling is to be Covenant Community... Every new day brings a new cross and a new Resurrection, because this is our life as missionnaries! And this life brings us joy! My biggest joy since I joined the Community is waking up every morning and knowing that I am where God wants me to be, doing what he wants me to do. I know that there is no greater place to use the talents God gave me than where I am right here, right now, for as long as the Lord calls me to this mission. Every day, he renews my strength and my decision through the daily prayer time that the Life Community members are lucky to have.
 |
| Flyer for MSH's show in Halleluya São Luis |
I dreamed a dream
Yesterday, as we were performing on National Television, I started thanking God. I almost thanked him for making my dreams come true, than I corrected myself. Singing in Missionário Shalom was never a dream, I never could have dreamed of something this big in terms of singing for God. Besides, the few times that people had joked about it as a possibility or even predicted it to me (a brother once told me after a prayer that he had had a visualization of me singing in MSH), I brushed it off because it seemed technically impossible. I had dreamed of being a superstar in the secular world, but as I my relationship with Christ deepened, I realized it would not fill me. Then I started singing for God "solo", and it did not fill me either. Something was missing. It's this something that I ended up thanking God for. For filling the whole that was empty, that is, using my gifts for something much bigger than myself, my own glory...
I remember sitting in an empty Church in Montreal, a few years ago, at a mass, praying: "Lord, what can I do for my Church? I want to do something. I want to bring people back into the Church." And God gave me my vocation. And then He gave me this mission. That is true happiness. A happiness that doesn't pass.
Links:
Missionário Shalom (portuguese):
https://www.comshalom.org/missionarioshalom/
"Eis-me Aqui" video by MSH:
https://youtu.be/KKLmgs-4kcU
World Youth Day:
https://worldyouthday.com/
Shalom Catholic Community:
https://www.comshalom.org/en/
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