Prayer for the Church in China

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!

Let this be your prayer for China during 2008!
And, since we are at it, let me also give you a link for 30 days of prayer for China's minority peoples: