Why, from its very beginnings, has the Church celebrated the sacraments, in particular baptism and Eucharist? Why, from its origin, has faith in Christ, which is expressed in a human, free, just, loving way of living, ruled by the gospel, also been expressed in the language of rites?

The Sacraments by Louis-Marie Chauvet offers reflections on the theology, celebration, and pastoral usage of the sacraments. It is a textbook version of Chauvet's, Symbol and Sacrament published by The Liturgical Press in 1995 that was acclaimed by theologians as offering a fresh theology of the sacraments from a perspective other than scholastic theology.