{"id":652,"date":"2008-05-24T01:10:20","date_gmt":"2008-05-24T01:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2008\/05\/prayer-for-china.html"},"modified":"2008-05-24T01:10:20","modified_gmt":"2008-05-24T01:10:20","slug":"prayer-for-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/05\/prayer-for-china.html","title":{"rendered":"Prayer for China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today (May 24) has been designated as a “Word Day of Prayer for China,” and all eyes have been on the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan<\/a>, about an hour\u00a0outside of\u00a0Shanghai, the site of May pilgrimages by Chinese Catholics, particularly associated with today – May 24- Our Lady, Help of Christians.<\/a>
\n(Here is a blog post from a member of a group from a Jesuit school for Chinese-Filipinos that made a pilgrimage to the Basilica last week, for example<\/a>.)
\nIn his letter to Chinese Catholics released a year ago <\/a>(May 27), Pope Benedict wrote:<\/p>\n

19. Dear Pastors and all the faithful, the date 24 May could in the future become an occasion for the Catholics of the whole world to be united in prayer with the Church which is in China. This day is dedicated to the liturgical memorial of Our Lady, Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Marian Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai.
\nI would like that date to be kept by you as a day of prayer for the Church in China. I encourage you to celebrate it by renewing your communion of faith in Jesus our Lord and of faithfulness to the Pope, and by praying that the unity among you may become ever deeper and more visible. I remind you, moreover, of the commandment that Jesus gave us, to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us, as well as the invitation of the Apostle Saint Paul: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:1-4).
\nOn that same day, the Catholics of the whole world \u2013 in particular those who are of Chinese origin \u2013 will demonstrate their fraternal solidarity and solicitude for you, asking the Lord of history for the gift of perseverance in witness, in the certainty that your sufferings past and present for the Holy Name of Jesus and your intrepid loyalty to his Vicar on earth will be rewarded, even if at times everything can seem a failure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With all of this in mind, not to speak of the tragedy of the earthquake – the annual pilgrimage to Sheshan took on even more importance this year.
\nWell, journalist Adam Minter, who blogs at Shanghai Scrap made his way to Sheshan, has a report from today (because it’s already, er, tomorrow there), and many interesting photographs – with promises of more thoughts to come. <\/a>\u00a0
\nThis is just one – go check out Shanghai Scrap for more, and his very interesting observations:
\n\u00a0\"\"
\nAlso read what Cardinal Zen of Hong Kong has to say. <\/a>(The Hong Kong Archdiocese cancelled its official pilgrimage to the Basilica for this day back in April.) <\/a>
\nAsia News’ stories on the pilgrimage will be found here. <\/a>
\nAlso keep an eye on the Fides News Service (Society for the Propogation of the Faith)<\/a>
\nFinally, the prayer Pope Benedict\u00a0composed for this day:<\/a><\/p>\n

Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother,
\nvenerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians”,
\nthe entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.
\nWe come before you today to implore your protection.
\nLook upon the People of God and, with a mother\u2019s care, guide them
\nalong the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be
\na leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.
\nWhen you obediently said “yes” in the house of Nazareth,
\nyou allowed God\u2019s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb
\nand thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.
\nYou willingly and generously cooperated in that work,
\nallowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul,
\nuntil the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary,
\nstanding beside your Son, who died that we might live.
\nFrom that moment, you became, in a new way,
\nthe Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith
\nand choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross.
\nMother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed
\nwith unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.
\nGrant that your children may discern at all times,
\neven those that are darkest, the signs of God\u2019s loving presence.
\nOur Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China,
\nwho, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love.
\nMay they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world,
\nand of the world to Jesus.
\nIn the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high,
\noffering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love.
\nHelp Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love,
\never clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.
\nMother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today (May 24) has been designated as a “Word Day of Prayer for China,” and all eyes have been on the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan, about an hour\u00a0outside of\u00a0Shanghai, the site of May pilgrimages by Chinese Catholics, particularly associated with today – May 24- Our Lady, Help of Christians. (Here is a blog…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPrayer for China - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/05\/prayer-for-china.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prayer for China - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today (May 24) has been designated as a “Word Day of Prayer for China,” and all eyes have been on the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan, about an hour\u00a0outside of\u00a0Shanghai, the site of May pilgrimages by Chinese Catholics, particularly associated with today – May 24- Our Lady, Help of Christians. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}