54. PRAYER (To be said by the parents):
Dear Spirit, who has incarnated in the body of our child, we bid you welcome. We thank You, Almighty God, for the blessing of this child.
We know that this is a trust You have deposited in us and for which one day we will have to give an account. If he (she) belongs to the new generation of Spirits who are to inhabit the Earth, we thank you Lord for this blessing! If it is an imperfect Spirit, it is our duty to help him/her progress towards goodness, by means of counselling and good examples. If he/she falls prey to evil through our fault, we shall be responsible for this, seeing that we shall have failed in our mission.
Lord, uphold us in this task and give us the necessary strength and willpower so as to be able to fulfill it to the best of our ability. If this child has come to test our Spirits, may Your will be done, Lord!
Good Spirits, who have watched over this birth and will accompany this child during the course of his/her new existence, do not abandon him/her. Turn away from him/her all the evil Spirits who will try to tempt him/her into badness. Give this being strength to resist all their suggestions and courage to suffer with patience and resignation the tests which await here on Earth (See chapter 14, item 9).
