Mary is venerated under this title in the shrine of She Shan, in Shanghai, China. As we know the Church in China is suffering persecution for their faith. Pope Benedict has requested that this be a Day in which the whole Church unites in prayer with and for the Church in China. As an expression of this great concern he has composed a prayer to Our Lady Help of Christians :
"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 trails, 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!"
The shrine at Sheshan, with its “nine peaks above the clouds” is situated about 35 kilometres from Shanghai city. The mountain, according to legend, gets its name from a hermit named She who centuries ago, lived atop the mountain.
In 1866, the Church in Shanghai built a hexagonal pavilion and placed within it an altar and a statue of Our Lady. Five years later, the Jesuits built a church at the summit of the mountain and dedicated it to Our Lady Help of Christians, opening it in 1873.
In 1924, the bishops of China consecrated the nation to Our Lady and following the consecration they made a pilgrimage to Sheshan. Work on a basilica began in 1925 and was completed 10 years later. This church was the first basilica in all of the Far East and it became China’s favourite pilgrimage site.
During the Cultural Revolution the beautiful bronze statue of Our Lady at the pinnacle of the basilica disappeared and other religious symbols, including the altar and the stained glass window were all virtually destroyed. Pilgrimages to the shrine resumed in 1979. A replica of the bronze statue of Mary holding up the Christ Child was finally re-installed on top of the tower in the year 2000. Some 10,000 believers paid for it.
Every year since then, pilgrims by the thousands have flocked to Sheshan. In 1990, the first pilgrimage of the decade saw 30,000 Catholics coming to Sheshan for Our Lady’s feast. The elderly and the young made the long steep climb from the foothills of the mountain to the summit as a testimony of their love and devotion to Our Lady.
In our troubled world today let us join in prayer with Mary, Help of Christians, for the Chinese and for all Christians and believers persecuted for their faith.
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