A Meme

It appears that I have been tagged by Pr. Hall with a little blogosphere fun. Here are the rules that he gives:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The closest book to me at this moment is “The Augustine Catechism: The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love.” (You’re probably glad that it doesn’t happen to be the “24” novel that I began just the other evening! Everyone needs a little lighter reading, after all. ☺) Let’s see how this goes.

The first sentence on page 123 (actually beginning on p. 122 - remember theologians like to say a lot in one sentence! ☺) runs the first half of the page (no kidding!), and the fifth sentence carries over to page 124. So, stretching the rules just a bit, here are the three sentences that follow on page 124:

“Therefore it is here that we accrue all the merit or demerit that can either support a person or weigh him down. But nobody should hope to gain in the sight of the Lord after death what he has neglected here. So the customs of the Church in praying for the dead are not contrary to the mind of the apostle who said For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor 5:10); for even the possibility of benefiting from them was won by each person while living in the body.”

(Disclaimer: Since I’m only about half way through the book, I find this quite interesting, though I don’t know the context leading up to it. So, now I’m anxious to speed up my reading to see what St. Augustine is talking about here! ☺)

BTW, what is "a meme"?

Now, I’ll tag these five: Pr. Cwirla, Priestman, Pr. Fish, L P Cruz, and Fr. John.