The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

 

This common idiom means “to say something about someone else which is actually true of you yourself.” (http://www.goenglish.com/ThePotCallingTheKettleBlack.asp)

 

 I thought of this phrase as I read this article in Proclaiming the Gospel’s latest newsletter: 

 ‘The Eucharist Will Help Free Catholics From Idols”

On the second day of his visit to France, in front of 300,000 people in the Esplanade des Invalides, Pope Benedict XVI propsed the Eucharist as the way to attain man’s true destiny.  He claimed that Christ, the Eucharist and the Mass, all help man to free himself from idols, which, as in ancient paganism, “diverted man from his true destiny.”  And precisely in order to free man from the prison of the idols, the pope invited the young people to follow the call to the priestly and religious vocation.  Beginning with the appeal from the apostle Paul to “Shun the worship of idols”  (2 Cor. 10:14), the pontiff explained what idols are:  “The word ‘idol’ comes from the Greek and means ‘image’, ‘figure’, ‘representation’, ‘phantom’ or ‘vain appearance’.  An idol is a delusion, for it turns its worshipper away from reality and places him in the kingdom of mere appearances.  “Communion with the Body of Christ”, the Eucharist, is the means by which we are helped to free ourselves from idols, because we discover the true face of God. “The Mass invites us to descern what, in ourselves, is obedient to the Spirit of God and what, in ourselves, is attuned to the spirit of evil.”  “He alone [Christ present in the Eucharist] teaches us to shun idols, the illusions of our minds”.  The urgency of celebrating the Eucharist as an instrument of truth for the faithful and for the world impelled the pope to make and appeal to the young people:  “Do not be afraid!  Do not be afraid to give your life to Christ!  Nothing will ever replace the ministry of priests at the heart of the Church!  Nothing will ever replace a Mass for the salvation of the world!”  (AsiaNews.it, 9/13/08)  {As reported in the Jan.-Mar 2009 edition of Proclaiming the Gospel newsletter.}

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What I found particularly ironic is that Pope Benedict accurately defines the term ‘idol’ as pagan and yet fails to condem the  idolatry which is taught and promoted by the Catholic Church! 

Here’s what I mean.  During transubstantiation, after the priest consecrates the ‘host’, it becomes THE body and blood of Christ.  Often, this wafer/host is placed in what is called a ostensorium or monstrance.   The monstrance is then placed on an alter for people to worship as the ‘very present Jesus’.

 

Now, the way I see it, that is idolatry.  What do you think?

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