Baptism

Baptism is the first of seven sacraments to initiate the process of christianisation, adding the forces of overcoming death (which were embodied into the earth through Christ's resurrection), to the natural maturing processes and social stages of develop- ment between birth and death.

The human soul lives before birth in the divine-spiritual world.

As Raphael depicted in the painting of the Sistine Madonna, every mother carries her child in an archetypal way, from the world of the unborn down into earthly existence.

Through birth, a heavenly citizen becomes an earthly human being.

The Christening promotes in man the power not to lose touch with the spiritual, and to endeavour to realise, in due course, what he or she has set out to do in this life.

Through baptism the child is received into the congregation: the living context with the Christ Jesus. The godparents take on the task as spiritual guardians to accompany the child with intercessory prayer on its path.