On the facade of the chapel of the St John of God Hospital in the Rue de Javel in Paris is an imposing sculpture of a pelican feeding its young. I like to see that statue as I enter the chapel through the main door, for it speaks to me of the Eucharist and of Hospitality. Everyone knows that the way the pelican feeds its young is by using its bill to take out the fish stored in the membranous pouch in its lower mandible. It is also said that, if necessary, the bird will feed its young from its own flesh. That is why Christian tradition, starting in the Middle Ages, uses the pelican as a symbol of the Eucharist. Saint Augustine, writing on the subject, says that the birds bear some similarities with the flesh of Christ, whose blood vivifies the faithful. Christ present in the Eucharist is known as “the pious pelican” or pie pellicano in Adoro te devote, a hymn attributed to St Thomas Aquinas, of which we know only a part, the  Tantum ergo. The pelican is shown with five of his young. After giving birth to them, he welcomes them, protects them, cares for them and feeds them. He reminds me that hospitality is an existential experience; it implies reciprocity in something that is free of charge. The word « host » has two meanings, referring both to the master of the house and to his guest. In the Eucharist, Jesus tell us, “This is my body” , this is my whole being essentially present in my body.  In the next word, we learn what the specific nature of that person is – the person that has been « delivered unto us ». That person is “being for others”. He is, in His deepest sense someone who shares Himself. It follows that what we are given is not a body part, is not a thing, but is Jesus Himself, communicating to us through His love which reaches out beyond the cross. Christ, the pie pellicano, gives Himself to us to feed us and to make us live His life.  He invites Himself into us and invites us into Him …. In hospitality, in the Eucharist, there are no hosts and no guests… But together we become “being for others”. That  pelican reminds symbolically of the ideal which I should try to live by and bear witness to, by the grace of God.