This week in review:

• Maitland Art Center - The education begins when the 25 students ranging in age from 8 to 14 gather in a small outdoor theatre adorned with Hispanic carvings of various catholic symbols. The speaker is Nancy Rosado, a local aspiring artist who was born in …
• Spain: Nativity Scene Removed « International Religious Freedom News - There is a continued debate over secularism in Spain, where Catholic symbols remain prominent in public life 30 years after the end of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco who had established Catholicism as a “state religion. …

This music video, featuring the song “Behold the Cross” by Gary Pinto & Phil Turcio, gives a snapshot of the thousands of places these two powerful Catholic symbols have visited around the globe during its 21-year-long pilgrimage.

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Many animals and fowl have special symbolic meaning to the early Christian church especially when Christians were an “underground society” worshiping in secret meeting places to avoid persecution.

We’ve already looked at the ICHTHUS Fish symbol in a previous post.  Other great symbols of early Christianity included the Lamb, Dove, Peacock, Phoenix and even the unicorn.  Today we will look at the symbolism behind the Pelican.

The Pelican is a Christian symbol of Christ as the Redeemer having shed His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.  The pelican was believed to draw blood from her chest and feed the blood to its young.  In the hymn Pelican of Mercy, St Thomas Aquinas wrote “Pelican of Mercy, cleanse me in Thy Precious Blood.

Similarly, the Pelican symbolizes the Eucharist, where the bread and wine is transfigured into the body and blood of Christ.

Today, the emblems of both Corpus Christi College in Cambridge and Corpus Christi College in Oxford are pelicans.  Corpus Christi means “the body of Christ”.

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Many Christian denominations do not pay that much attention to the Epiphany of Jesus Christ.  The Epiphany event occurred shortly after Jesus was born in Bethlehem and is celebrated by the Catholic church on January 6th of each year.  It commemorates the day when the magi, the three kings came to pay homage to Christ, the king.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church the Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world.

The three kings, the wise men if you will, symbolizes the acceptance of Jesus as the salvation of the world through the Incarnation. Their journey to Israel in order to pay homage to Jesus shows that they sought the one who would be king of all nations.  Their coming means that pagans can discover Jesus and worship him as Son of God and Savior of the world.

Here’s what Pope Benedict said in his homily at the Vatican, last year, during the celebration of the feast of the Epiphany:

“The light that shone in the night at Christmas illuminating the Bethlehem Grotto, where Mary, Joseph and the shepherds remained in silent adoration, shines out today and is manifested to all. The Epiphany is a mystery of light, symbolically suggested by the star that guided the Magi on their journey. The true source of light, however, the “sun that rises from on high”, is Christ.

In the mystery of Christmas, Christ’s light shines on the earth, spreading, as it were, in concentric circles. First of all, it shines on the Holy Family of Nazareth: the Virgin Mary and Joseph are illuminated by the divine presence of the Infant Jesus. The light of the Redeemer is then manifested to the shepherds of Bethlehem, who, informed by an Angel, hasten immediately to the grotto and find there the “sign” that had been foretold to them: the Child, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

The shepherds, together with Mary and Joseph, represent that “remnant of Israel,” the poor, the anawim, to whom the Good News was proclaimed.

Finally, Christ’s brightness shines out, reaching the Magi who are the first-fruits of the pagan peoples.

The Magi worshipped a simple Child in the arms of his Mother Mary, because in him they recognized the source of the twofold light that had guided them: the light of the star and the light of the Scriptures. In him they recognized the King of the Jews, the glory of Israel, but also the King of all the peoples.”

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You may have been in a Catholic church during Adoration or Benediction and wondered what that golden vessel that holds the Eucharistic Host, the bread wafer, for display is called.  It’s a unique Roman Catholic Symbol

In the English language we call it a Monstrance.  In the Latin language used universally in the Roman Catholic Church it is called an Ostensorium. Monstrance is derived from the Latin word “monstrare” which means “to show”.  In the English language the word “demonstrate” has the same derivation and it’s meaning, according to the Webster Dictionary, is “to show clearly”.

So why do Catholics have this special vessel to show or display the Eucharistic host?  In the Catholic Church, doctrine holds that the bread and wine are transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ during their consecration at the mass.  This is known as Transubstantiation - the transforming of the bread and wine into the body and blood.  Once consecrated and transformed they are given the same adoration as is given to Jesus.

While the Host is displayed in the Monstrance no human hands are to touch it.  That’s why you see the priest or bishop or even the pope wearing a veil that covers their shoulders and hands when holding the Monstrance.

There you have it.  Another unique yet very important symbol of the Catholic Church .

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