Too Funny: Is the Pope Cribbing from Deacon Greg? – UPDATES

We’ve had a little fun, noting how frequently his Holiness brings up idolatry in his homilies and talks (he just did it again, on June 2!); the joke, of course, is that he and I are mind-melding.

Now it seems Deacon Greg and Pope Francis are visiting a similar frequency. Posting his homily early, as he always does, the good Deacon preached this about the Solemnity of Corpus Christi:

Communion is, to a great extent, about community.
It is about being united in love for Christ, love for the Eucharist, fidelity to the gospels. It is about sharing a common bond of faith and belief. And it is about taking Christ, quite literally, into ourselves—and then out into the world.

And: we do not do this alone. The Body of Christ, the grace of receiving that sacrament, is not intended to be kept in isolation. It is meant to be lived, [emphasis mine – admin] to be extended to others, to be brought into the streets, onto the subways, into our homes and offices and workplaces by how we live, and how we love.

And here is Francis on Corpus Christi:

The Eucharist is the sacrament of communion, that makes us come out from our individualism to live together our discipleship, our faith in him. Then we should all ask ourselves before the Lord: how do I live the Eucharist? Do I live it anonymously or as a moment of true communion with the Lord, but also with all our brothers and sisters who share this same table?

Now, before anyone gets all hot-and-bothered and declares that we’re making an idol of the pope or being irreverent (we ain’t neither!), bear in mind that this is all just good-natured joking. We’re goofing around. We’re amused, because we’re not all that holy, over here, and yet there is a commonality of expression — perhaps a commonality of prompting — that just seems like the Holy Spirit is having some fun (or, perhaps, being deadly serious) and continuing its trick of using the most surprising and oddball vehicles to spread a message or work the will of the Creator.

In any case, Deacon Greg (who is quite the Francis fan) was tickled to be “on the same page,” so to speak, as the Holy Father.

And I am as wonderingly amused as ever.

UPDATE:
Speaking of mind-melds and promptings, here is Fr. Robert Barron, thoughtful as ever, on seeing God, or making idols, where we ought not:

What is at the root of this deeply wrong-headed homily is a conflation of early 21st century values of inclusion and toleration with the great Biblical value of love. To love is to will the good of the other as other. As such, love can involve — indeed, must involve — a deep intolerance toward wickedness and a clear willingness to exclude certain forms of life, behavior, and thought. When inclusivity and toleration emerge as the supreme goods — as they have in much of our society today — then love devolves into something vague, sentimental and finally dangerous.

How dangerous? Well, we might begin to see the devil himself as beautiful and holy.

UPDATE II:
Speaking of Corpus Christi, take a gander at how it is understood and reported on by the secular press. Egad.