Beijing (Fides Service) - In the history of the Church in China the rosary prayer has always had an important role. A Chinese priest tells Fides Service: "At times of difficulty the rosary prayer was a means to help the people to feel united. We could say it silently, counting the Hail Marys on our fingers. Besides being a mediation on the mysteries of our faith the prayer helps Chinese Catholics to keep in touch in spirit with the universal Church. Since the Holy Father gave us the new Mysteries of Light, the parishes in the diocese are trying to organise prayer groups to become accustomed to the new mysteries. The new mysteries are explained in the Beijing diocesan bulletin. In the past it was mainly a prayer for the elderly, but today more and more young people are leaning this Marian devotion and the churches are full at Rosary time."
The Church in China begins the day with the rosary, early, usually at four am. People go to church to say the rosary and offer themselves and their day to the Lord. A rosary beads, whether made of simple or precious material, is also a welcome gift for Chinese Catholics. A young Catholic told Fides Service what the rosary prayer means to him. "In the early 1980s when there was no religious freedom, I remember seeing my grandmother hold her rosary beads, while her lips moved, and when I asked what she was doing she would never tell me. Some years later, Grandmother not only explained the Rosary prayer to us, she made me and my cousins learn it. Whenever a foreign visitor brought a present of a simple plastic rosary beads Grandmother would hold it lovingly like a treasure and then give it to one of us on the condition that we would promise to be good. I still have my plastic rosary which is now falling to pieces. Today I don't need Grandmother to make me say the prayer, I like saying it. The rosary has become part of my spiritual life and I feel the need to pray it with my prayer group. This simple prayer is a source of comfort, peace and hope for the great family of the universal Church". (Fides Service 18/12/2002)