April 2010 "Sketchings"

“THE LEGEND OF THE PELICAN!!”

From time to time I’ve had the opportunity to observe brown pelicans at work. These birds hover in small groups over the water watching for fish. When they see their prey they dive beak first into the water with a loud plop and come up with the fish in their beak. Or they can be seen perched on a piling watching with envy as fishermen land fish, even, occasionally trying to intercept the fish as it is being reeled in. Or they can be seen hovering in their group alongside the fish cleaning station, acting the lazy hunter waiting for an easy kill. They are a delight to watch.

I was surprised, however, to learn that the pelican has, in religious art, long been a symbol of self-sacrifice -- even though none of the behaviors of the pelican had the appearance of being self-sacrificing.

It is not the pelican’s behavior that symbolizes self-sacrifice. The legend of their self-sacrifice comes from their red-tipped beak. The legend says that when a mother pelican cannot find food for her young, she thrusts her beak into her breast and nourished her little ones with her own blood. The early church saw this as a picture of what Christ did for us in His death and resurrection.

By the time you read this we’ll be well into Holy Week. Some of you will even read this after Easter. But the point remains the same: God’s love for us is so great that God is willing to reach into Himself to give His one and only son. God’s love for us is so great that he’d rather sacrifice His son than live without us. God’s love for us is so great that He is willing to nourish us with forgiveness and new life by giving us his very own body and blood as a communion meal.

However, God’s gift was not just in the sacrifice. It was in the resurrection of Jesus to new life. It is in the conquering of death and the grave so that we who, are fed by our Lord, can also have by faith new and eternal life. In God’s own sacrifice, God has given us a new life, a new relationship with God and the open door of eternity.

May God strengthen your faith and bless you in these Holy Days as we contemplate the mighty acts of God and His wonderful gift of love and sacrifice. And may God fill you with His Holy Spirit as you live out the wonder of God’s grace in your life.

T. O. M.