Looking back on our Easter Vigil celebration, one moment comes to mind with particular joy. The moment after the sermon when Jannis and Laura were baptized and Rebekka received her confirmation. It was a great joy for our congregation to witness and celebrate this moment. But how did it come about?
Jannis and Laura shared their story on Radio Maria.
The desire for something.
Jannis‘ path to baptism is not an ordinary one. Growing up in an atheist home, he was initially completely averse to faith. He unsubscribed from religious education at school, convinced that faith was not for him. He considered himself a skeptic. Nevertheless, he realized that there was a feeling of emptiness in him – a longing for something. He tried to fill this longing – with success and money. And that’s where his journey began. He followed a YouTube influencer who wanted to show him ways to get rich. The influencer mentioned that a belief in “God” could be conducive to this, whereby God here represents a cosmic force or energy and not the personal, living God of the Christian faith. However, Jannis somehow associated Christianity with God, which is why he ordered a Luther Bible – with the ulterior motive of becoming rich as a result.
Even though he describes his first encounter with the writings of the Old Testament as very humanly boring, the New Testament somehow revealed the core of the Christian faith to him – so he decided to get to know this God during Lent 2024. At the same time, Jannis met an old school friend at the gym who had become a believer: Andi. And so began Jannis‘ path to baptism at the John Paul II Center.
The Hug of God.
Laura’s path to baptism actually began with a free-church approach to faith. This meant that she had many misunderstandings and reservations about the Catholic Church, for example when it came to the “hot issues” of veneration of Mary and the saints. Nevertheless, she was always searching, which led her to the decision that she wanted to find her way back to God. When she attended her first mass, she was almost put off – everything felt strange. When she then attended a mass at the center, she thought she “could do more with it”. Soon afterwards, she realized that she wanted to be baptized and began an intense and exciting time, in which there were also many ups and downs.
During this time, a lot happened inside her, in her heart, and she was able to fill the emptiness with God and Jesus. There were phases of reconsidering and even revising her decision. She struggled with negative feelings, anxiety and depression, especially just before the baptism – a feeling she perceived as an “attack”. Sometimes she found it difficult to believe, and she prayed to be able to believe.
Baptism was then an overwhelming experience.
