After the young Virgin Mary accepted the invitation to be the mother of the Son of the Most High, she set out to cover a long distance through hills to visit her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, who was pregnant for the first time. This young woman already displayed a proactive spirit in her, always ready to lend a hand to those who might have a need of her protective assistance.
Soon after sending her greetings to her cousin, Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed this in a loud voice, “Blessed are you who believed that was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Our Lady, with her staunch faith in God’s promise and her proactive spirit of mission, is the role model for our Church in China and all over the world.
The then Archbishop Celso Costantini was reported to have said at the first ever Concilium Sinense held in Shanghai a century ago, that the mission of the Church was to “evangelize, not colonize.” And this was reiterated by Pope Francis and his predecessors that the mission of the Church should not be a political one but evangelization. And there should be no inherent contradiction for one to be a good Christian and a good citizen.
Thanks be to God that we have great missionary models running before us in the great Apostle Paul and Fr. Matteo Ricci, showing us how to become “all things to all”. Indeed, one very important decision made at that first Concilium, with intervention from Pope Pius XI, was to ordain Chinese clergy as bishops for a Chinese Church. Inculturation of the Chinese Church had started a century ago. And that must continue.
As the Church in China commemorates this important landmark took place in Shanghai a century ago, let us join our sisters and brothers in the Mainland in prayers, for the further inculturation of the Chinese Church, in a synodal spirit under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Mary, help of Christians, Our Lady of Sheshan, pray for us!
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