The Divine Lamp

David from Cosmos~Liturgy~Sex has tagged me for a Literary Meme. I’m not fond of doing memes, but because I like to read, I decided to go along. Here are the rules:

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.

A problem I’m having is that I have two books equal distance from me, so I’ll do both:

1) “What passes for truth, in the final analysis, is not the reality that confronts man as given, but rather, whatever he himself has made and whatever, in the future, he may be yet able to make (marxism).

“An important proponent of this constructivism in modern times is certainly Immanuel Kant, for whom the thing in itself is regarded as unknowable. The human mind casts a spider web of thought, made up of its own ideas, over the chaotic data of the senses; that is, it imposes reality.” -Woman in the Priesthood, a Systematic Analysis in Light of the Order of Creation and Redemption, by Manfred Hauke.

2) “The coming of this Winnower somehow establishes wheat forever as wheat, and chaff as chaff. The chaffis paradoxically not destroyed by the fire that consumes it. It goes on burning forever, for it is essential, unchangeable chaff-the weightlessness and hollowness of man’s unregenerate spirit and heart, which are eternal in spite of themselves.” -Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word, Meditations on the Gospel According to Matthew, by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis.

I tag Argent by the Tiber; Rob from Catholic Scripture Study; Will Cubbedge of Fish in a Barrel; Bear and Puff from The Spirit’s Sword

Update: Mister Cubbedge was already picked for the meme. So I pick Taylor at Canterbury Tales.

In case anyone is interested, I’m currently reading History and Spirit: The Understanding of Scripture According to Origen, by Henri Cardinal De Lubac.  Also volume 1 of  The Origin of Ideas, by Blessed Antonio Rosmini Serbati.  This book is available for reading online