Have you ever seen a pelican connected with St. Thomas Aquinas? In 1264, Pope Urban IV asked Aquinas to write a hymn for the feast of Corpus Christi. In his beautiful Adoro Te Devote, Aquinas uses the medieval imagery of a pelican. Legend was that a mother pelican would wound herself to provide food for her young when no other food was available. She would give her very life-blood so that her offspring could live. As a result, the self-sacrificing pelican became a symbol for the Passion of Jesus.

In the deeply moving verse about the Pelican and the power of Jesus' blood, we remember what his passion does for us:

Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Bathe me, Jesus Lord, in what Thy bosom ran
Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.

The infinite mercy of Jesus washing away a world of sin! Just one drop of his blood can take way all the sins of the world. Priests, before Jesus, used to stand offering sacrifices that could never take away sin. Now, Jesus has offered his body once and for all so that sins might be forgiven (Heb. 10:11-12). This is the Eucharist.

For those who do not know, The Eucharist might seem so impersonal and redundant. A question might be asked, "Why are you Catholics always doing the same thing and going through the same motions with that same rite you call the mass?" And we can respond that what Jesus does for us in The Eucharist is the most personal, loving and ever-new thing we could ever do. It is all about more deeply entering the mystery where the, "Blood whereof a single drop has power to win all the world forgiveness of its world of sin."

Blessed by the BEST,

+Fr. John