Mass and The Sacraments by Fr. John Laux is a brief but very thorough and extremely precise and interesting explanation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Seven Sacraments, indulgences and the Sacramentals. His explanation of the nature, institution and history of the Mass will prove enlightening to all but the very best informed of readers. For there is not an important aspect of the Mass he does not touch upon.
Each of the Seven Sacraments, likewise, receives a thorough, clear explanation, as do indulgences and the Sacramentals of the Church.Originally entitled The Means of Grace when first published in 1928, this book is intended to impress upon the reader’s mind the importance of the supernatural grace that man needs to save his soul and the nature of the channels (Sacraments, etc.) through which this grace comes into our souls. As well as presenting the Church’s traditional doctrine on the Sacraments and other means of grace (their origins, Scriptural background, matter and form, essential requirements for receiving, effects in the soul, etc.).
Fr. Laux also gives their history in earlier ages of the Church. Moreover, he points out precisely where Martin Luther and the Protestant “Reformers” went wrong, so that both the student and adult reader are alerted against various old errors which unfortunately are still causing confusion today.Like all of Fr. Laux books, Mass and the Sacraments is a work of rare genius because it is at once brief, understandable, precise, thorough and interesting. Written primarily as a high school course book, it is also intended by the author for adult reading. As such, it combines maturity of thought with ease of understanding, and forms, therefore, a perfect bridge between the Baltimore Catechism on the on the one side and full-fledged theology on the other.
It is a rare Catholic, indeed, who would not enjoy and greatly benefit from a reading of this enlightening book on “the means of grace.”
