In his pastoral letter to Catholics in China last May, Benedict XVI designated May 24 as the day of prayer for the Catholic Church in China. The day is the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, who is venerated at the Marian Shrine of Sheshan, located 21 miles from Shanghai.

 

This year, Pope Benedict XVI has composed a Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan to mark the day of 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 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 Marian Academy of India held from May 1 to 3, 2008, in the Shrine Retreat Center, Vailanaknni, South India, its annual Marian congress with the theme Mary: Model for new way of being human – Indian perspectives.  

 

Fr. R.K Samy, President

The launching of the PUEBLO AMANTE DE MARIA MARIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE PHILIPPINES (PAMMSPhil)

 

 

On September 12, 2007, during the 3rd Pilgrimage for Peace in Lipa City (Batangas, Philippines), the PUEBLO AMANTE DE MARIA MARIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE PHILIPPINES (=PAMMSPhil) led by his Eminence, Lipa Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles, D.D, was officially launched. Fr. Catalino Arevalo, SJ , gave an introductory talk, where he underlined the aim of the mariological society and the significance of the name "pueblo amante de Maria" - a people in love with Mary, as the outstanding characteristic of the Church in the Philippines.

 

The pastoral letter of Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on February 2, 1975 entitled Ang Mahal na Birhen (=AMB), described the Marian heart of our Filipino Christian life. While it speaks of the sincere veneration of our people for Mary as a source of  comfort and joy, it also points to the need of an organized and concrete pastoral action on how to renew the veneration of Mary in the Philippines.

 

True devotion to Mary leads to imitation of her virtues and interior attitudes which includes responsibility in various fields today. We rarely associate devotion to Mary with the social dimension of Christian living, and this is when devotion to her tend to become pious individualism.

 

Renewal of Marian devotion includes knowledge, love and action.

 

From the doctrinal point of view, our knowledge of Mary must be fundamentally biblical, solidly Christological and soundly liturgical  (cf AMB 97, 98). The anthropological and social dimensions of our Marian devotion needs to be deepened and concretized. This includes the recognition and promotion of the dignity and the role of woman in the Church and in society. Our devotion to Mary should also make us aware of the present plight of the vast majority of our Filipino brethren who live lives unworthy of human beings. These poor and oppressed brethren of ours are devotees of Mary, too; and they call out to her, their Mother, to ease their sufferings and free them from their chains. And surely her maternal heart goes out to them. Her appeal comes to those of us who can help the helpless. Mary is the model of the perfect disciple of Lord: “the disciple who builds up the earthly and temporal city while being a diligent pilgrim towards the heavenly and eternal city, the disciple who works for that justice which sets free the oppressed and for that charity that assists the needy” (cf. AMB 87-96).

The Pueblo Amante de Maria –Mariological Society of Philippines (PAMMSPhil) could help mobilize the conscience of our people and become a catalyzing force to renew the devotion to Mary and consequently the Christian life of our people.

 

Sr. Milagros R. Gregorio, FMA

Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles

Professor Sophia (Kyong-Sun) Choi shares the beautiful news of the presence of three Marian Schools in Korea where she herself teaches:

 

(1) Marian School in Busan, founded by the Sisters of the “Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate”. It is part of the Catholic University of Busan. Mariology is offered for two semesters. There are ten professors.

 

(2) Marian School in Suwon, founded by the Brothers of Father Monti (Sons of Mary). Together with professor Choi, a Korean priest teaches a one semester course in Mariology. Both professors are graduate in the Pontifical Theological Faculty “Marianum” in Rome.

 

(3) Marian School in Seoul, founded by the Sisters with the consent of the bishops. In fact, part of the teaching staff, together with the priests, sisters and lay person, is a bishop for a two semester course in Mariology.