As a nation who enjoys freedom of religion, we need to be mindful that communist china continue to suppress and persecute those Roman Catholic who will not allow the government to dictate their conscience to join the government established church. Without any pressure from the rest of the world, there is no reason why communist government will give freedom to its people, it is money and power in China, not negotiation or reciprocation. Since America has many, many Catholic, we have an obligation to assist other Catholic who are still under persecution. America should stop buying Chinese made products whenever possible, this will help the US economy and also put some pressure on the Chinese communist government. Each time if we must buy a product that is made in China because there is no other option, then I would suggest that we should say a prayer for the underground Catholic who are loyal to the Holy See and continue to struggle in China.
In May 2008, Pope Benedict XVI released the text of a Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan that he had composed. Our Lady of Sheshan is a Chinese title for Our Lady Help of Christians, whose most famous shrine in China is at Sheshan. Since the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians is May 24, the Holy Father designated that date as a World Day of Prayer for the Church in China and asked that his newly composed prayer be recited every year on that day.
In honor of the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians (May 24), Pope Benedict XVI composed the following prayer in May 2008. He asked that it be recited every year on May 24, and that May 24 be designated a World Day of Prayer for the Church in China.
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 co-operated 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!
On May 24, 2009, the Vatican released the text of a Compendium summarizing Pope Benedict's May 27, 2007, letter "to the Bishops, Priests, Consecrated Persons and Lay Faithful of the Catholic Church in the People's Republic of China." The letter has long been viewed as the official policy statement of Benedict's pontificate regarding the situation of the Church in China. The Compendium, available on the Vatican's website, both summarizes and extends the letter, by urging reconciliation between those Catholics who belong to the Catholic Church officially recognized by the state (which the Chinese government calls the "Patriotic Church") and the ecclesiastical authorities approved by Rome (commonly known as the "underground Church").
In light of this call for dialogue and reconciliation among Chinese Catholics, I have chosen as our novena this week the Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan. During this Marian month of May, let us pray for the Catholic faithful in China, that they may come together in one Church, united with the Holy Father.
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