Usually, people go to the Mangabeira shopping center, in João Pessoa, in the Brazilian state of Paraíba, to shop and have fun, like in any shopping center in Brazil. Daily, however, dozens of people visit a sacred place for prayer, celebration of Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament within the shopping center: the Mother of Love chapel.
The chapel, which is located inside the Madre del Amor store, dedicated to the sale of Catholic religious items on the ground floor of the shopping center, was created by the store’s owner, Carlos Eduardo Tavares de Melo, in 2014, after a “personal experience with Jesus.” For him, Madre del Amor “is not just a store, but a mission.”
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“As the Mother of Love store is a mission, it needed to have the heart of the mission present in the stores: Jesus,” Tavares de Melo told ACI Digital, EWTN News’ Portuguese-language agency.
“The chapel summarizes all the charisma and call of the Mother of Love, leading souls to have a true experience with the Love of God through the hands of Mary. The chapel provides greater intimacy with God, in prayer and worship, both for employees and for clients and visitors. Having the chapel with Jesus is our greatest asset,” he highlighted.
The chapel was inaugurated in 2014 along with the store. Since 2019, Mother of Love is authorized to keep the Blessed Sacrament in her chapel. The then vicar general of the Archdiocese of Paraíba, Fr. Luís Júnior, knew and followed the mission and “the zeal for the sacred” of Madre de Amor, and suggested to Tavares de Melo to begin the process to obtain “the tabernacle with Jesus in the chapel”.
“This process was carried out by him, together with the presbyteral council, the then parish priest of the parish area in which the chapel is located and the Archbishop of Paraíba, Mons. Manoel Delson Pedreira da Cruz. On August 2, In 2019 we were granted permission and on November 1 of the same year the Holy Mass was celebrated for the reopening of the chapel,” said the owner of the store.
The Mass is celebrated in the chapel from Monday to Friday at noon, depending on the availability of three priests who take turns in the celebrations. There is no fixed time for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, but if any group or community wants to worship there, it is necessary to notify the employees in advance, who are also extraordinary ministers of Communion.
Tavares de Melo said that, although the chapel does not have “a fixed activity such as worship or moments of prayer, many church groups, communities gather to pray and have some meetings.”
Although the religious goods store does not have a specific charisma for a new Catholic community, Carlos Eduardo says that they seek to provide in their spaces “environments of peace that are a refuge, where you can find and drink from the true source that is Jesus.” , and its “team is made up of people whose main objective is heaven, for themselves and for everyone.”
“We take advantage of opportunities to evangelize and bring a message of faith, hope and charity to people’s hearts and we do not just sell a Catholic item,” he said.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in ACI Digital.
Monasa Narjara
Monasa Narjara has been a journalist at ACI Digital since 2022 and was a journalist in the Archdiocese of Brasilia between 2014 and 2015.