At the altar of sacrifice. At the pelican’s breast. Here I stand; longing to be fed. Mouth wide open. Waiting to receive. My mind drifts to the Last Supper depicted on the altar at St Mary-Hanover.

     Reverent. Waiting for the life-giving bread of life. Sustenance for the journey. Food that lasts. Manna from Heaven. And here You are, Jesus, the bread that satisfies. Having spent Your life for each of us.

     Help us, Jesus, to be as You—spending our life for the sacrifice of Christ to the hungry world around us. Help us to be as the disciples, turned apostles, to be Your Last Supper on the Altar at St Mary-Hanover hands. Your feet. Help us not to weigh the cost but to surrender our will to yours. My mind lingers on the word ‘cost’. Pentecost. In Greek ‘pente’ means ‘five.’ The story of the five talents. The five wounds of Christ. The five Discourses. The Miracle of the Five Loaves. Our own human weakness combined with Your strength. It is You who sustains each of us. 

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The inspiration for this short writing came from the teaching of the pelican, located on the altar at IC-Lansing, which symbolizes Christ’s sacrifice for humanity. Like the pelican feeding her young with her own blood to save them from starvation is a powerful metaphor for Christ's sacrificial love. This quickly transitioned into the Last Supper sacred art taken from St Mary-Hanover for the teaching done on the Last Supper that day. This sacred art of the Last Supper