(16 May 08 - RV) The L'Osservatore Romano on Friday published the prayer composed
by Pope Benedict XVI for the Day of Prayer for the Church in China, observed on May
24th. The prayer follows:
Prayer
to Our Lady of Sheshan
Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and
our Mother, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians”,
the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection. We come before
you today to implore your protection. Look upon the People of God and, with a
mother’s care, guide them along the paths of truth and love, so that they may
always be a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.
When you
obediently said “yes” in the house of Nazareth, you allowed God’s eternal Son
to take flesh in your virginal womb and thus to begin in history the work of our
redemption. You willingly and generously cooperated in that work, allowing
the sword of pain to pierce your soul, until the supreme hour of the Cross, when
you kept watch on Calvary, standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.
From
that moment, you became, in a new way, the Mother of all those who receive your
Son Jesus in faith and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross.
Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed with unfailing
trust towards the dawn of Easter. Grant that your children may discern at all
times, even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.
Our
Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China, who, amid their daily trials, continue
to believe, to hope, to love. May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the
world, and of the world to Jesus. In the statue overlooking the Shrine you
lift your Son on high, offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of
love. Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love, ever clinging
to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built. Mother of China and all Asia,
pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!