TRIREGNUM sensus catholicus: Pray for the Underground Catacomb Catholic Church in China

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Pray for the Underground Catacomb Catholic Church in China

From 1992 to 1998, Lu Nan, a Chinese documentary photographer, undertook an unauthorized project where he traveled throughout China photographing the "Underground Church". Lu Nan faced arrest and prosecution for taking these photos. The project is entitled "On the Road. Chinese Catholic Church 1992-1998".

May these deeply moving photos become a meditation for each one of us....My faith has been strengthened and I've been deeply edified by these photographs. These people bear a invaluable witness to the Catholic faith under circumstances none of us can imagine. My God grant us all the grace to be able to bear such witness for Christ and our Catholic faith if need be. I have always heard that the faith blossoms and flourishes under persecution. The blood of untold martyrs in China is the seedbed of the Church there. Part of my own heritage on my mother's side were made up of Chinese Catholics who went to Hawaii in the 19th Century. It is to these ancestors really that I owe my Catholic faith I received through my mother. We must pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer greatly at the hands of an atheistic government. I pray that the "underground catacomb Church" shall grow as a leaven within Chinese society. I pray that those who attend the schismatic "official Patriotic Church" will be given the grace and strength to reject the false notion that one can be truly Catholic in so doing.

Our Lady of Sheshan pray for China and for the persecuted Catholics there!

The Cardinal Kung Foundation is an excellent resource regarding the underground catacomb Catholics of China.

The complete set of photographs can be viewed here with a description

1 comment:

EC Gefroh said...: Mahalo nui loa for sharing this! I have a friend from China. Many of her family members (grandfather, etc)were martyred for the faith. I will gladly share this with her. God bless.; July 18, 2013 at 4:48 PM

PRAY FOR THE CHURCH AND THE POPE

For the Pope Fr Tim Finegan of 'The Hermeneutic of Continuity' Blog has given some golden advice: "Every day, as part of my morning prayers, I say the prayer Ecclesiae for the protection of the Church, along with the prayer for the Pope, both from the traditional Missal. I have done so ever since the foot-washing incident and do so each day as the bad news piles up. Following St Vincent Ferrer, I would urge that if you disagree with the Pope, prayer is not simply a piously sentimental comfort, but the proper course of action since it is an appeal to his immediate superior." Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum Franciscum, quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Dominum Nostrum Iesum Christum Filium Tuum, Qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen. O God, the Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, mercifully look upon Thy servant, Francis, whom Thou hast chosen as the chief Shepherd to preside over Thy Church; grant him, we beseech Thee, so to edify, both by word and example, those over whom he hath charge, that he may attain unto everlasting life, together with the flock committed unto him. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Coetus Internationalis Patrum

Prayer of St Therese of the Infant Jesus and the Holy Face

It is said that this devotion brought St Therese of Lisieux, "the Little Flower", to her great sanctity. This is her prayer to the Holy Face: O Jesus, who in Thy bitter Passion didst become "the most abject of men, a man of sorrows", I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am consumed with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men. The tears which well up abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value. O Jesus, whose adorable Face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep within me Thy divine image and to set me on fire with Thy Love, that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.

Cor Jesu sacratissimum, miserere nobis!

Prayer of Trust in the Sacred Heart: In all my temptations, I place my trust in Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. In all my weaknesses, I place my trust in Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. In all my difficulties, I place my trust in Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. In all my trials, I place my trust in Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. In all my sorrows, I place my trust in Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. In all my work, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. In every failure, I place my trust in Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. In every discouragement, I place my trust in Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. In life and in death, I place my trust in Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. In time and in eternity, I place my trust in Thee, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.

ITE AD JOSEPH

PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH AND THE HOLY FATHER MOST POWERFUL Patriarch St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, which has always invoked thee in anxiety and trouble, from the exalted seat of thy glory cast a loving glance upon the whole Catholic world. let thy fatherly heart be touched at the sight of the Mystical Spouse and the Vicar of Christ overwhelmed with sorrow and persecuted by powerful enemies. Oh, by the bitter anguish thou didst experience upon earth, dry the tears of the venerable Pontiff, defend him, comfort him, intercede for him with the Giver of peace and charity, that, all adversity being removed and all error dissipated, the entire Church may serve God in perfect liberty. Amen.

Oratio pro summo Pontifice/ Prayer for the Pope

V. Let us pray for Franceso, our Pope. R. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. [Ps 40:3] Pater Noster, Ave Maria. O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Franceso, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

‘Evelyn Waugh Catholics' is there any other kind?

An English friend and colleague, the icon painter David Clayton, told me that when he first converted and began to attend Mass at London’s extraordinary Oratory, some cradle Catholic warned him away from the place: "All you’ll meet there," the fellow said, "are ‘Evelyn Waugh Catholics.’" To which I answer, "Is there any other kind?" No doubt there are, in Yamoussoukro, or the mountain chapels of Bolivia. May God bless and keep them. But in the English-speaking world, I cannot imagine any properly formed Catholic who wouldn’t feel deep-running sympathy, right down to the clench of his gut, with Waugh’s excruciated elegies to the remnants of a vanishing Christendom. Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar is finally fading — and in England is daily more dully drowned by the cats-in-heat call of the muezzin.

Therese "Resl" Neumann Mystic and Stigmatist of Konnersreuth, Germany

PRAYER FOR THE BEATIFICATION OF THERESE NEUMANN: Almighty God, our Father in Heaven, with infinite love You give us signs to stir our dull minds when we consider the lives of Your Saints. To recall our Lord's passion You granted Therese Neumann to bear his sacred wounds visibly on her body. You enabled her to see much of His life on earth in her visions. You allowed her to make amends for the sins of men by suffering with the Saviour. Likewise You reminded us of the lasting value of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the abiding presence of Christ Your Son in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar by permitting her to live for over 30 years solely through receiving the sacred host in daily Holy Communion! We beg to further distinguish Therese Neumann by granting our prayer to have her raised to the honors of the altar, that more people may through knowledge of her love for You and Your laws draw nearer to You. We ask this through Christ our Lord. AMEN