Pelican

Unless you have been to a weekday Mass here, you may not have had a chance to see our sanctuary gates. If you do get the chance, you will see that they are each decorated with a bird. Most people immediately think the bird is an eagle, but the second you look more closely, you will see that this is not the case. The bird’s neck is too long to be an eagle. It is actually a pelican. 

Pelicans have long been seen as an image of Jesus. Legend has it that a mother pelican, during a time of famine, would pierce its own flesh and feed its young with its own flesh and blood. It is not hard to see the connection then between this pelican and Christ: Christ Himself has His side pierced for us and feeds us with His own flesh and blood so that we might live. The Adoro Te Devote, which we often sing during celebrations of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, has a verse that reads: “Like what tender tales tell of the Pelican/ Bathe me, Jesus/ Lord, in what Thy Bosom ran/ Blood that but one drop of has the powr to win/ All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.” This is why the pelican has been seen in sacred art for centuries.

Jesus continually offers Himself in that sacrifice of ultimate love. He gives Himself in the Eucharist in order to nourish us, strengthen us along the way, so that we might eventually reach the end of our journey to heaven. May devote ourselves more and more fully to imitating that same self-sacrificial love so that our love may become perfect as His is.