It
was the morning after Christmas and two boys were conversing about the
gifts they received on Christmas day. The first one proudly announced,
“As Christmas gift, my big brother gave me a bicycle.” Amazed, the
second boy wondered aloud, “Wow, how I wish…” “That you got a bicycle
too?” the first one interrupted. “No,” he continued, “how I wish I could
give a bicycle to my brother, too.”
A
pelican is a species of a bird that is known to be a self-sacrificing
animal. Mythic stories abound that with their long pointed bills, they
would wound their breasts and feed their young with their own blood
until they die of blood loss. (How different it is today when it is the
young who lose their blood for the sake of the mothers in the name of
“choice.” I believe the pro-choice philosophy can learn a lot from the
pelican).
This
is the reason why the early Christians associated the pelican with the
symbol of Christ Himself (a big capital P with a cross at the base),
whose self-emptying sacrifice won for humanity the fullness of life.
In
today’s Gospel Jesus teaches the multitude, then feeds them by the
miraculous multiplication of the loaves. This prefigures the ultimate
self-giving that Jesus will make of Himself – “this is my body…this is
my blood” for the salvation of humanity. Jesus is the divine pelican who
feeds the young with His very self, which is what we commemorate at
every Eucharistic celebration. Ironically, the people of Jesus’ time
acted more like parasites, following Jesus wherever He went, not because
of His teaching but because of a free meal, prompting Jesus to confront
them saying, “I tell you truly, you are looking for
Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the bread and had
your fill” (John 6:25).
As
we draw nearer to the Christmas mystery, what part of you becomes more
operative – the parasite or the pelican? May we all summon the pelican
in us and allow it to soar and bring us all up to the heavenly heights.
REFLECTION QUESTION: If
you were to complete the sentence, “Wow, how I wish…” what would it be?
That “I received a bicycle” or “that I can give a bicycle”?
