Introduction and Our Father / Sacraments activity
The Sacraments are the answer to the petitions in the Our Father. If we take the Our Father petitions and list them from end to beginning, they fit with the Sacraments.
Deliver us from evil; led us not into temptation
Baptism – by which we are born into the new life in Christ.
Blue Bead for the waters of Baptism
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us
Reconciliation – by which sins after Baptism are forgiven
White Bead for the purity and cleansing we receive in the Sacrament of Reconciliation
Give us this day our daily bread
The Holy Eucharist – by which Christ associates his Church and all her members with the sacrifice of the cross.
Brown Bead for the wheat that will become bread and then the Body of Christ
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, one earth as it is in Heaven
Confirmation – by which we are more perfectly bound to the Church and enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit.
Red Bead to represent the consuming fire of the Holy Spirit
Holy Matrimony – by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love.
Green Bead to show that man and woman are open to life, both having and raising children
Holy Orders/Anointing of the Sick – by which the task of serving in the name and in the Person of Christ is conferred
Search: Anointing of the Sick
Black Bead to represent the sacrificial “death to self” that priest and deacon commit to for the life of the Church. It also represents the blackness of death, but our eternal hope for our resurrection. While we may have to go through the darkness, we know Christ brings forth the light.
ACTIVITY – Our Father and the Sacraments
Make a simple bracelet with one blue, white, brown, red, green, and black bead on each of the bracelets. These beads represent the seven sacraments. Bracelets can be given out to the group, but do not give any explanation at first. You will also need two small groups. Before doing this activity tell one group to explain the real meaning behind the beads [see the descriptions above]. They will be “angels”. The other group will make up whatever they want for the beads; they will be the “demons”. They will try their best to trick the people. The “angels” and “demons” will not speak with each other, nor can they divulge whether or not they are an angel. They can say what they say is true though. The trick should be “true” in other words believable, but not the Sacramental / Our Father “truth”. For example, blue is the water that is necessary for life, white is the coldness of the human heart, yellow is the sun that melts the coldness of the human heart, green is the new life that comes from the warmth of “love”, black is the death that comes to each individual, red is the destruction that will eventually come to all creature including earth. Another example is the beads represent the life of Christ. Blue for Baptism of Jesus, White for Transfiguration, yellow for wedding feast of cana, brown for last supper, red for his crucifixion, and black for him descending into the dead.
When you say go the main group will have an allotted time (you decide) to visit with as many different “angels” and “demons” as possible. Have the “angels” and “demons” spread out in the room if you have a large room, or you can put them in various rooms. All anyone can ask is “what do the beads mean?” They may also ask for them to repeat what they had just said. At some point, call a few of the participants to come and explain what the beads mean to you. A good way to do this is by features. For example, call up all those who have blue eyes, or brown hair, or is wearing flip flops, etc. Typically there will be three categories that you will put people in: Group A – They do not get even close to the true meaning of the beads; Group B – They get some, but not all (for example they get they are the 7 Sacraments, but didn’t get the Our Father); Group C – They get everything correct. At the end, reveal who were angels and who were demons, and then go through and explain the beads and what they represent.
The Sacraments enable us to participate in the Divine Life.[i]
In Baptism we are “born again” to the divine life.
Confirmation strengthens the divine life within us.
Penance restores the divine life when it has been lost by mortal sin, or helps its growth, when it has been hampered by venial sin.
The Eucharist supplies daily nourishment to the divine life.
Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick) sustains the divine life within us in the hour of our death, and in times of sickness.
By Holy Orders the line of those who transmit the divine life is maintained.
By Holy Matrimony the line of those who receive the divine life is maintained.
Other Link to Liturgy resources on the Sacraments:
Search: Sacraments of Initiation
Search: Sacraments: Grace is Given
Search: Sacraments: The Work Performed
Search: Sacraments: Their Purpose
Search: Faith: Seed, Root, Shoot, Fruit (Sacraments)
[i] Roman Catholic Daily Missal (1962); The Sacraments