Apostles Creed
This year in the 2026-27 Family Faith Formation we will study the Apostles Creed. We will take words or lines of the prayer and dive deeper into learning the significance of this prayer. This year as we work on our sacramental prep we will look for ways to deepen our faith and cultivate a love for Christ one line at a time.
We will also be working through the Baltimore Catechism book with our children For this week they will read Lesson 1-2. We are using Book #2 of the Baltimore Catechism. Before we go over this lesson with our children from Book 2 we use Book 3 for our own review and target points that are more relevant to our older child. Some portions our older child will read to reinforce the lessons from Book 2. Book 3 is a deeper dive of the same material found in Book 2. Book 3 is great for the Confirmation level student on up.
As we begin the year we are going to set up a single subject spiral notebook. In the first pages of your notebook you will glue the 3 printouts of prayers. You will then glue to facing pages the Nicene Creed and Apostles Creed. We found that having the prayers in English and Latin side by side will be useful for the year as a reference source. We will refer back to these prayers over the course of the year.
We begin by asking: Who are the Apostles? How many Apostles?
In my search to find a good picture of the 12 Apostles for the notebook I discovered a wonderful rabbit hole. Illuminated Manuscripts. I printed out two pictures to glue inside the notebook. Below is the second picture I found and how I set it inside the notebook. The pictures can be found here.
On the next page we wrote:
What is the Creed? The summary of our Catholic beliefs. We have the Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed.
Who wrote it? The 12 statements of the Apostles Creed is found in scripture. It is the profession of our faith dating back to the Apostles themselves.
Where is the Apostles Creed found in the Bible? At the bottom of that essay is a good list showing where each line can be found in the Bible. I copied it and pasted it into a word processing document then reduced the size printed it out to glue in the notebook after the Apostles Creed prayer.
I included a printout of the following article to read: One Faith, Two Creeds by: Father William Saunders. This article is a good one to read to your children. The older children can read it themselves and then you can discuss it later. This article was simply folded and placed inside the notebook for this lesson section. Because we chose to read it out loud at supper we needed one copy which will be kept in the older student’s notebook.
The lesson begins with Faith. I Believe
Here we discussed that faith is a gift from God that helps us believe the truths that God has revealed to us. Christians receive this gift of faith at baptism. Taking time to talk about the children’s baptism story is a good way to review the sacrament of baptism. Showing photographs of the day and telling them the names of their God parents. We took a moment to tell the children the date of their baptisms. In our home we had lost track of these dates in typical fashion of a normal growing family. When our eldest was going through her sacramental journey it was then that we realized keeping these dates in a handy location would be quite helpful later on. Our idea was to write these dates on a piece a paper and tape it inside one of the kitchen cabinets. Now we all can refer to it as needed.
Below is a deep dive in to learning more about the Baptismal Candle. For older students this is worth discussing. Many families lose track of these candles and over time we have seen that many Catholics have forgotten all about the significance of these candles.
The baptismal candle symbolizes the light of Christ being entrusted to the newly baptized. When we are baptized we are freed from original sin and welcomed into the family of God. During the baptism ceremony the baptismal candle is lit from the Paschal Candle, the large candle that represents the risen Christ.This reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world. His light is shared with each person who receives the sacrament calling them to live as faithful followers of Christ. The candle reminds us that faith is meant to be shared. One candle lights another without losing its flame, illustrating how Christians are called to bring the light of Christ into their families, friendships, and communities.
Baptism candles are easily forgotten and rarely used again after the baptism ceremony. Celebrating our child’s sacramental anniversaries are an important yet forgotten tradition lost in the routines of the modern world. Tradition tells us to light this candle on your child’s baptismal anniversary, reminding them that this is an even greater than a birthday to celebrate. It is our birthday of supernatural life. Many people who carry on this tradition will light the candle and recite the baptismal promises together as a family and enjoy a treat. One good idea I have heard is families who keep the tradition of lighting the candle leave the baptismal candles on the family altar so they are in view year round. We are to keep this candle for our whole life. Baptism candles are powerful sacramentals and can be used in times of need to deepen our faith and devotion. We can light this candle in times of serious illness and pray the rosary asking God to heal and care for us. It may also be lit on your First Holy Communion and at Confirmation. This candle is used again to light the unity candle at the wedding. (Although most people have lost track of this candle before adulthood.)
As we go on in life the baptismal candle will be lit at the hour of our death. What remains of this candle will be lit one last time at our death. The candle will be placed at the head of the coffin at the wake and allowed to burn until extinguished. Our life in Christ begins at baptism and is fulfilled in eternal life. When we light this candle at our death we light the candle for our “birth” into new eternal life with Christ.
During our FFF class we learned the basics about the Paschal Candle. This lesson included a simple craft of making a paper Paschal Candle including the significant features we see on the candle. If you want to make one of your own a basic candle template can be found here. The pieces can be found here.
Since we have a very young First Year Holy Communion we will have him focus on a Bible story. In the FFF lesson of the week students learn about the story of faith of Abraham and Sarah. We read this story to our children. It is a great way to review the topic of faith from this lesson and is perfectly suited for 2nd grade and younger. Although older kids like it too! To focus the lesson ask: What were the 3 promises of salvation that God gave to Abraham and when was each fulfilled?
For the self directed portion of the lesson for the middle school through Confirmation level students we will learn more about Illuminated Manuscripts.
What is an Illuminated Manuscript? (see pictures pages before of the 12 Apostles.) Please visit the National Gallery of Art website page: What is an Illuminated Manuscript for a brief Art History lesson. See also the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s website page Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts Discover the art of bookmaking.
Assignment: Write a short paragraph answering the question above. Once you have learned about this form of art you will make your own illuminated manuscript page. (glue/tape your assignment to the notebook page.)
- Choose materials ex: art paper, colored pencils, crayons, markers, paint, etc..
- Choose a short prayer
- Create an illustration for this prayer. You can reference the websites above for inspiration and style techniques.
- Have fun. This is meant to be a fun way to bring art and prayer together.
Deep dive option Have your students go to some online encyclopedia websites to read more about the history. Maybe even the library! Have your student write a 2-5 page paper about illuminated manuscripts.
For the self directed portion of the lesson for the younger level students we will make a craft to learn about Abraham using the number 3. In the past I was able to find this online for free however that is no longer available. If you want to do this with your children you will need to purchase something similar to this craft. Otherwise finding a free Abraham and the stars coloring sheet will do in its place. We would make the number 3 cut it out and glue into the student’s notebook listing the Three Promises from God. The second part is to find a coloring sheet of the 12 Apostles. Have the student color them and cut them out. Glue each one to the notebook labeling each of the Apostles with their names. Again you will need to do a web search to find a coloring sheet. I did a brief search and found many of the cute/nice free versions were in Spanish.
Author’s note: As the access to online freebies is now more risky due to the spammers corrupting websites finding free safe resources has dwindled. One option going forward for any crafting and making projects is to look for resources in Teachers Pay Teachers. There are several makers on that site that have good options for Bible lessons and may be worth paying for a packet that can be used again. Also using a reliable Catholic maker would be recommended. Several Catholic graphic designers are making nice products that would be a great addition to the domestic church. One safe option is: Look to Him and Be Radiant. This is a great website made by a Catholic teacher. Her resources are freely available and we look to her materials in our own use. She has made most of her materials to be designed for older elementary on up.
*** Read Lesson 1: The Purpose of Man’s Existence and Lesson 2: God and His Perfections in the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism Book #2******
Resources
The Ultimate Guide to Catholic Baptism by Ascension Press April 3, 2025.
*Lesson 1: I Believe Family Faith Formation group meeting on September 1, 2026.
The Small Pencil Catechist 