THESE ARE THE SACRAMENTS

Within the past two decades there has been a marked resurgence of interest in the liturgy, the official worship of the Church, resulting in the publication of hundreds of books on the subject. These Are the Sacraments, another collaboration of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen and the renowned Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh, is easily the most visually appealing since their fine This Is the Mass was published. Since the answer to the question of how Christ saves is to be found in the sacraments, Bishop Sheen points out that the divine life of Christ is communicated through His Church in exactly the same way that His divine life was communicated when He walked the earth.....by using human beings and material things as the instruments for the communication of divine life. Employing the effective combination of graphic illustrations and descriptive prose, the outward visible signs of the sacraments -- and their meaning -- becomes much more clear. The photo-narrative technique dramatizes how through the seven sacraments Christ is with us always to provide the help and strength we need to grow in divine life. These Are the Sacraments should merit attention from adults interested in learning more about these ""sensible signs"" of grace won for them by Christ, and should be valuable in helping them instruct their children more fully in a knowledge of these seven channels of grace.