Tuesday, March 14, 2023

THE PELICAN, IMAGE OF JESUS


Lord Jesus, Good Pelican,

clean me, the unclean, with Your Blood,

One drop of which can heal

the entire world of all its sins.


Adoro te devote hymn


Since the early years, the pelican has been one of the symbols used by the first Christians to refer to Jesus. One of the reasons, and perhaps the most relevant, was the belief that adult pelicans, if they had not managed to catch any fish, they would sacrifice themselves or at least tore their skin and gave their own meat and their own blood to feed their young.

In a similar way, Jesus allows himself to be caught and crucified for the Redemption of all of us. Saint Isidore of Seville, in his work "Etymologies” states the wide dissemination of this belief at that time.

The fact of feeding his children with his own flesh and his own blood, also linked the pelican with the Eucharist itself. The bread and wine, through transubstantiation, really and truly become the Body and Blood of Jesus, food for the soul of Christians.

Just as baby pelicans could not survive without the food their mother gives them, so Christians must worthily eat and drink (that is, in SANCTIFYING grace, after going to Confession) the Body and Blood of Christ present, together with his Soul and Divinity, in the Eucharist.


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