“The Sacraments are a privileged way in which nature is taken up by God to become a means of mediating supernatural life. Through our worship of God,we are invited to embrace the world on a different plane.
Water, oil, fire, and colors are taken up in all their symbolic power and incorporated into our act of praise. The hand that blesses is an instrument of God’s love and a reflection of the closeness of Jesus Christ, who came to accompany us on the journey of life. Water is poured over the body of a child in Baptism is a sign of new life.
Encountering God does not mean fleeing from the world or turning our back on nature… For Christians all the creatures of the material universe find their true meaning in the incarnate Word, for the Son of God has incorporated in his person part of the material world, planting in it a seed of definitive transformation.”