The Power of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

/ chicoinematt / Leave a comment

Sponsored: This article is made possible by Sacred Heart Tea, supporting quality and engaging Catholic content.

When Everything Changed

7 years ago my life forever changed and the Sacred Heart of Jesus played a huge role in this change. Today, I’m writing this article on what would have been the 18th birthday of my little girl. Instead, she never made it past 10 years old.

One moment I was online sharing about a new sunscreen I found and the next day I was posting to tell the world that my little girl had died in my arms. You see, just 13 days before her 11th birthday I had to rush my daughter to the ER with a severe headache. Within a few hours she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was too late to save her and that day I held my little girl in my arms and birthed her into the arms of Jesus. As she died I remember weeping and saying, “He makes all things new. He makes all things new.” I told her, “It’s ok to go baby. You don’t have to stay. Mommy’s here. Mommy loves you.”

A Mission Passed On

In the moment of her death I had an overwhelming sense of what God was calling me to do. You see, for various reasons Maggie had not yet completed her RE classes and was scheduled to receive her first Holy Communion the day I rushed her to the ER.

And all that year her RE teacher talked about what it meant to be a missionary, and she had decided that she was not going to be a hair stylist or a nun but instead she was going to go wherever God called her and she was going to be a missionary. I realized in the moment she died that she was now the greatest missionary she could ever be. That the miracles she could work from Heaven would be unlike anything she could have done while alive here on earth. And I KNEW that as her mom it was my job to help her in her missionary work.

Heaven Touches Earth

6 weeks after Maggie died I found myself at a women’s retreat at my parish that lasted all weekend. No phones. No clocks. Just us and Jesus. We had 24 hour adoration and I found myself sitting before the Eucharist for hours at a time. You see, the room we used for adoration was small and the table was short so I could literally sit at His feet and talk with Him the way a friend would. As I looked at Jesus and spoke with Him, I felt a profound sense that Heaven opened to us in that moment. I realized I wasn’t just spending time with Jesus—I was also on a mommy-daughter date, because Maggie was there with Him, surrounded by all the saints and angels in Heaven.

Held by the Heart

I sobbed as I stared at Him and I was overwhelmed by His Most Sacred Heart. I begged Him to place me within His heart because it was there that I would find solace. It was there I would find love. It was there I would find protection from the flames that threatened to consume me in my agony.

And so I found myself there. Surrounded by burning flames and embers and I felt at peace. I was curled up in His embrace and I never wanted to leave. I didn’t realize how long I had been kneeling there when my knees collapsed. I never hit the ground because 3 or 4 women had been watching me and immediately rushed to my side.

They lifted me up and put all of their weight under my arms. I was on my knees again adoring the One I love only this time with the support of my sisters around me. I stayed there on my knees with their help and that weekend I left with an understanding between me and Jesus. God called me to be a missionary because He had called my daughter to the same mission, and as her mom, I knew it was my role to help her carry it out.

Into the Sacred Heart

And what is the mission? Christ and Him crucified! Christ and His Most Sacred Heart.

What storms have you endured? Is it hard to find peace? Does it feel impossible to remain standing? Ask Jesus to hide you in His Sacred Heart and it is there you will find protection from the storms that rage around you. Your pain won’t be taken away and your suffering won’t be non-existent. But you will find the peace and love you need to live life to the fullest.

Maggie, I’ll see you in the Eucharist baby girl. Mama loves you now and forever.

Thanks again to today’s article sponsor! Visit Sacred Heart Tea to find high quality and delicious teas.🍵  

Thank you for sharing!

The Pelican: An Ancient Symbol of Christ’s Eucharistic Love

/ chicoinematt / Leave a comment

Sponsored: This article is made possible by Archangel Outfitters supporting quality and engaging Catholic content.

While the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah are the most obvious and biblically clear animal symbols for Jesus Christ, the pelican is an under-rated symbol that is rich in meaning and beauty. There are many birds used in Christian history to represent God: like the dove for the Holy Spirit and even the Mother Hen as an analogy to speak of Christ’s protection of his people in Luke 13:31-35.

Honestly, I had never heard about the pelican as a symbol of Jesus Christ until a few years ago. Since discovering this powerful symbol I have started to notice it more and more in various parishes where I have attended Mass over the years. I have seen etchings of this majestic bird on pillars at the cathedral in my city and have seen the pelican adorned on altars in a variety of ways.

A Symbol Hidden in Plain Sight

I traveled to Italy during college and visited both Assisi and Rome. I wish I had known about the pelican symbol back then because I would have seen some beautiful portrayals of this symbol of Christ in those awesome churches. Before learning about its spiritual significance, the only time I really thought about pelicans was when looking up NBA scores and seeing the New Orleans Pelicans! It’s amazing how something can transform from mundane to meaningful once you understand its deeper significance.

Today, I wear a pelican brown scapular (I alternate it with my traditional style brown scapular every other day), and I received an awesome pelican t-shirt from Archangel Outfitters to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. These small reminders help keep this powerful symbol of Christ’s sacrifice close to my heart.

This is one of the coolest shirts I own. I wear it almost weekly. It’s perfect for the summertime!

An Ancient Legend Transformed

The image of the mother pelican feeding her baby pelicans is rooted in several ancient Roman legends that precede Christianity. One version is that in time of famine, the mother pelican wounded herself, striking her breast with her beak to feed her young with her blood. Another version was that the mother fed her dying young with her blood to revive them from death, but in turn lost her own life.

Given these traditions, one can easily understand how early Christians adapted it to symbolize our Lord, Jesus Christ. The pelican symbolizes Jesus our Redeemer who gave His life for our redemption and feeds us with His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We were dead to sin and have found new life through the sacrifice of Christ.

The Biblical Connection

While the pelican doesn’t appear directly in Scripture as a symbol for Christ, Jesus himself uses bird imagery to describe his protective love. In Luke 13:31-35, after Pharisees warn him about Herod’s death threats, Jesus laments over Jerusalem:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, yet you were not willing.”

This tender image of a mother bird gathering her young under wings for protection parallels the sacrificial nature of the pelican legend. Both emphasize Christ’s desire to protect, nourish, and save his people, even at great personal cost.

As Jesus told his disciples (and us), “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Saint Cyril of Alexandria echoed this when he wrote, “Christ came into this world in human flesh not to be served, but, as he himself said, to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Physiologus and Medieval Symbolism

This tradition and others is found in the Physiologus, an early Christian work which appeared in the second century in Alexandria, Egypt. Written by an anonymous author, this text recorded legends of animals and gave each an allegorical interpretation.

The legend of the pelican is described: “The little pelicans strike their parents, and the parents, striking back, kill them. But on the third day the mother pelican strikes and opens her side and pours blood over her dead young. In this way they are revivified and made well. So Our Lord Jesus Christ says also through the prophet Isaiah: I have brought up children and exalted them, but they have despised me (Is 1:2). We struck God by serving the creature rather than the Creator. Therefore, He deigned to ascend the cross, and when His side was pierced, blood and water gushed forth unto our salvation and eternal life.”

This work was noted by numerous authors and was popular in the Middle Ages as a source for the symbols used in stone carvings and other artwork of that period.

The Pelican in Literature

The pelican symbol appears frequently in Renaissance literature. In 1312, Dante wrote in his “Paridiso” of Christ as “our Pelican who shed His blood in order to give eternal life to the children of men.” In 1606, John Lyly wrote in his “Euphues” of the “pelicane who stricketh blood out of its owne bodye to do others good.” Even Shakespeare referenced this symbolism in Hamlet: “to his good friend thus wide, I’ll open my arms and, like the kind, life-rendering pelican repast them with my blood.” In modern English this would translate as: “I’ll open my arms wide to his true friends, and like a mother pelican with her brood, I’ll even give my blood for them.”

Jesus cares for us like the mother pelican cares for her young.

The Eucharistic Connection

The pelican has been part of our liturgical tradition for centuries. In his great Eucharistic hymn “Adoro te devote,” St. Thomas Aquinas directly addresses Christ as the “pie pelicane, Jesu Domine” (the pious pelican, Lord Jesus), asking him to “wash my filthiness and clean me with your blood.”

This Eucharistic connection is why we often see the pelican image on tabernacles, altar frontals, and other church furnishings. The image powerfully reminds us of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, where He continues to feed us with His Body and Blood.

As Saint Pio of Pietrelcina said, “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.” The Eucharist is not merely a symbol but the very life of Christ given to sustain us spiritually, just as the pelican in the legend sustains her young with her own blood.

Saint John Paul II reminded us that “Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love.” The image of the pelican helps us visualize this profound truth—Christ giving Himself completely for our salvation and nourishment.

Finding the Pelican in Our Churches

Next time you’re in a church, especially an older one with traditional furnishings, look around carefully. You might spot a pelican carved on an altar, etched in a stained glass window, or painted on a tabernacle door. These images aren’t random decorations but powerful reminders of Christ’s sacrificial love.

In Catholic tradition, the pelican image on a tabernacle door symbolizes the “body of Christ” within. But more commonly, the pelican symbol is found at the top of the cross in late-medieval and Renaissance Crucifixion images, reinforcing the connection between Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and the nourishment we receive in the Eucharist.

The pelican serves as a beautiful reminder that Christ not only died for us but continues to feed us with His very life. As we receive the Eucharist, we can meditate on this ancient symbol and be thankful for the Lord who, like the pelican of legend, gives His very life to sustain His children.

Thanks again to today’s post sponsor! Visit Archangel Outfitters for cool and awesome Catholic apparel!

Thank you for sharing!

The Kitchen Table and the Kingdom: Faith, the Trinity, and Eternal Life

/ chicoinematt / Leave a comment

Guest Post by: David Tonaszuck

A reflection on the Gospel of John 3:16-18

Dear Friends in Christ,

There is a family in a small parish — let’s call them the Rodriguezes — whose story many of us who know them will never forget. A few years ago, their youngest daughter, eight-year-old Sofia, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. The doctors were honest but grim. The family was devastated, as any family would be. But they did something that changed not only their own lives, but the life of their entire community. They prayed. Not quietly, not privately, not alone — they opened their home every Friday evening and invited their neighbors, their parish friends, and even strangers to gather around their kitchen table and pray together to God the Father, through Jesus His Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Week after week, that kitchen filled up. People who hadn’t been to Mass in years came. People who weren’t even Catholic came. They prayed the Rosary, they read Scripture, they laid hands on one another and asked the Holy Spirit to move among them. And six months later, Sofia’s oncologist called with results that left the entire medical team without a ready explanation. The cancer was gone. Completely. Sofia walked back into her school, back into her life, and back into the arms of a community that had been transformed by what they had witnessed together.

But here is the most remarkable part of the story. It wasn’t just Sofia who was healed. Something happened in that neighborhood that no one fully planned. People who had come to pray for a sick child left believing — really believing — in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And belief, as today’s Gospel tells us, changes everything. That community went on to build a food pantry, a clothing drive, a tutoring program for at-risk children. They built, in their own small and beautiful way, the Kingdom of God. And it all began because they believed.

John 3:16
Continue reading →
Thank you for sharing!

Unveiling the Holy Trinity: 3 Valuable Lessons from Elementary Students

/ chicoinematt / Leave a comment

Editor’s Note: Post originally publiched on October 8, 2019.

The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote, “The soul is healed by being with children.” This Sunday, I experienced the truth contained in that quote. It was the first class for Religious Education at my parish.  Going into my third year of volunteering as a catechist, I was comfortable with the subject matter, but I was a bit nervous about teaching third and fourth graders for the first time ever. Previously, I taught high school and middle school students.

Begin with the Trinity

The starting lesson was on the Holy Trinity. While that teaching is the most essential belief of Christianity it is also the most misunderstood and easy to fall into heresy. How could I explain this doctrine to younger students without getting too theological or technical?

In hindsight, I always am reminded that it was pointless to worry. Everything turned out fine. St. Paul wrote, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God” (Philippians 4:6-7).  I have since bookmarked this passage. Although I failed to petition God for aid before the lesson, I am expressing my gratitude in Him using my students as instruments to remind me of wondrous truths contained in the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.

Continue reading →
Thank you for sharing!

Forgiven and Sent: The Holy Spirit’s Gift on Pentecost

/ chicoinematt / Leave a comment

Guest Post by: David Tonaszuck

A reflection on the Gospel of John 20:19-23

Dear Friends in Christ,

There is a family I know—a mother, a father, and three children—who arrived in America with nothing but hope and the clothes on their backs. They had fled unrest in their homeland, crossing an ocean, believing in the promise of a new life. But when they arrived, the world was not so welcoming. The language was foreign, the winters bit through their thin jackets, and neighbors eyed them with suspicion. The children were teased at school for their accents. The father’s hard-earned degree meant nothing here; he swept floors at night while the mother cleaned houses. They grew weary, and bitterness crept in. But then, one Sunday, they wandered into a small Catholic church. 

There, a kind parishioner greeted them, and soon the parish wrapped them in unexpected warmth. Yet the pain lingered—until one evening, during a prayer service, the pastor spoke about forgiveness: how it is not just for those who have wronged us, but for our own hearts’ healing. The family prayed for those who had mistreated them. Slowly, a new peace took root. Not long after, they began volunteering at the church, helping other newcomers. The love they received, and the forgiveness they offered, built something beautiful—a small reflection of the Kingdom of God, right here in their new home.

Pentecost
Continue reading →
Thank you for sharing!