Pope Benedict XVI's 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!