From ancient times, the fish has been associated with Christianity. The Greek word for fish is ichthys. From the beginning Christians made an acronym from it: Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter, which means Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. In Scripture we find a number of references to fish. For example, Jesus fed five thousand men with two fish and five loaves. He also called his disciples ‘fishers of men’. Tertullian uses the Ichthys symbol to compare Christians to fish, since they were born of water into Jesus Christ. In the Gospel according to St Matthew, Jesus says: “the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind” (Mt 13:47).

After his resurrection from the dead, when Jesus appeared to his disciples on the shore of the sea of Galilee, we find Simon Peter on his boat bringing back to land a net containing one hundred and fifty-three large fish: “Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn” (Jn 21:11). Why does the evangelist specify that there were one hundred and fifty-three fish caught in the net? St Jerome in the fourth century writes that this number symbolises all species of fish, and therefore signifies that there is a place for everyone in the Church. It is also interesting to note that if we were to count the number of times Jesus blessed various individuals in the four Gospels, it would amount to one hundred and fifty-three people, on forty-eight different occasions.

What happened to Moses when he encountered God? Did his face shine or did he grow horns? When we look at Moses’ iconography, he is frequently portrayed as having horns on his head. According to what was written in the Bible, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, his face changed. This is what is written in the Book of Exodus:

Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

Exodus 34:29

In Hebrew the verb to shine is קרנ (q-r-n). The account in Exodus 19 describes the events at Mount Sinai. When the Jewish people arrive, God tells Moses: “If you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples” (Ex 19:5), and God offers to make a covenant with the people. Moses’ face begins to shine when he encounters God, but Moses does not realise it; it is the people who see his shining countenance. This verb caused numerous arguments to arise throughout history, because the noun ‘qeren’ means ‘horn’. Some of the principal reasons that this word is translated as ‘shining’ and not a ‘horn’ are as follows:

1. The subject of the verb ‘q-r-n’ is the face, not the head. It is unlikely that horns grew on Moses’ face without him noticing.
2. The horn as a symbol does not make sense in light of what Moses had experienced.
3. The majority of the principal Biblical translations, apart from the Vulgate, translate this verb as ‘shining.’

Since the Vulgate (the Bible translated from the original languages into Latin by St Jerome) was the translation used for many years, Michelangelo created his sculpture of Moses based on the Vulgate’s translation:

Cumque descenderet Moyses de monte Sinai, tenebat duas tabulas testimonii, et ignorabat quod cornuta esset facies sua ex consortio sermonis Domini.

And when Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord.

Ex 34:29 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

This is the reason why Michelangelo sculpted Moses with horns on his head. Throughout history, these horns have been interpreted as symbols of wisdom and leadership.

Because I got sick and tired of travelling back and forth with plastic bottles, I decided to make a more sustainable choice for the environment by purchasing a water filter jug. If nothing else, I have saved myself from having to buy and carry packs of water from the store to the car, and then from the car to my apartment, which is located on the second floor in a building with no elevator!

But, while this was a great solution during the winter months, it is not always ideal in summer. Although the water is not so hot as to be good to make a cup of coffee or tea, sometimes I end up filling the jug with warm water because the water supply pipes are exposed to the heat …

Doesn’t this remind you of two verses from the Book of Revelation?

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.”

Rev 3:15-16

It’s true, that’s what you would feel like doing. It’s similar to when you’re thirsty and you have to drink from a bottle that was in a car parked in the sun!
But this verse is not simply imagery or a metaphor, because it describes a real situation in the city of Laodicea at that time. Although very rich—so much so that, when the city was destroyed by an earthquake, it was in such a strong financial position that it refused imperial assistance—the city lacked a natural source of water. Thus water had to be brought from somewhere else. And it was brought from such a long distance away that it became lukewarm and almost unpleasant to drink. This greatly contrasted with the thermal springs that were found in the city of Hierapolis, which, through their warmth, had curative properties, or the flowing pure springs of the city of Colossae that revitalised all who used them.

Therefore, the word of Christ, the “Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation” (Rev 3:14), becomes more potent. If our words, attitudes, attentiveness, and compassion in our parish community and towards our neighbour do not bring the soothing relief of warm water, nor quench the thirst of those who are living an aimless life, we will be spat out because we would be living a mediocre Christian life—a life in which we may do nothing wrong but neither do we accomplish the good we should do …

Today Laodicea no longer has this problem because it was destroyed and abandoned in the thirteenth century, and I can be a bit more practical by placing a jug of water in the fridge. But our struggle not to become lukewarm is always present and cannot be resolved unless we give heed to the final proposition that Jesus gives to the Christians of Laodicea and to us also:

“Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”

Rev. 3: 20

If there is one word that every Christian in the world knows, no matter what rite or denomination they may belong to, is undoubtedly ‘Alleluia’. The origin of this Hebrew word is a combination of a verb and a noun. The verb is hillel which means praise—a verb which is used many times in the Hebrew Bible. This verb can also mean boasting. The noun jah is a concise form of God’s name. Therefore, the word Alleluia means “Praise God.”

The last five Psalms in the Book of Psalms are in praise of God in which ‘Alleluia’ is frequently used. Psalm 148 begins with, “Alleluia. Praise the LORD from the heavens; offer praise to him in the heights!” (v. 1), it concludes with the words, “He has raised high a horn for his people,
to the glory of all his saints, for the people of Israel who are close to him. Alleluia” (v. 14). The call to praise God is not addressed to God, but to all creation which is invited to praise God.

In the Roman Rite, the word Alleluia is associated with joy. Before the reading of the Gospel, the congregation sings Alleluia, in order that “the assembly of the faithful welcomes and greets the Lord who is about to speak to it in the Gospel” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, par.62)

I don’t know about you, but I have always been curious about the medallion with an image of Jesus around St Jude’s neck in many of his images. This typical element of St Jude’s iconography is rooted in an ancient legend that goes back to the early Church, at about the fourth century, and recounted by St Eusebius of Caesarea (Historia Ecclesiastica, 1.13).

The legend says that King Abgar of Edessa (a city in modern day Turkey) was ill. When he heard about Jesus, he sent a letter asking for healing and offering him a place of refuge from those who wanted to kill him. Jesus refused to go because of his obedience to the Father’s will. However, Jesus was so impressed by the faith of this king that he wiped his face with a handkerchief on which he left an imprint of his face and sent it to King Abgar, while promising him that after he had suffered his passion and was lifted up, he would send one of his disciples to him. When the king saw this image, he placed it with great reverence in one of the halls in his palace.

One version of this legend states that after Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, Thaddaeus (St Jude the Apostle) was sent to King Abgar of Edessa, as Jesus had promised. St Jude placed his hands on the King, and he was cured through the power of the name of Jesus. Astonished by this, the King converted to the Christian faith along with all the people in his kingdom.

Although we are not sure if this story did actually take place, it is certain that behind this story there is a hidden truth of great importance that enlightened the life of this holy Apostle and enlightens us in our Christian vocation. St Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, writes:

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

Created in the image of God and adopted as his sons and daughters through baptism, we bear the image of Christ in our souls similar to the image imprinted on the handkerchief, an image that gives us our identity and our dignity. But this image also brings responsibility. Like St Jude, we are sent “with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror.” We are called so that, after we allow God’s mercy to be poured into our hearts, we approach our brothers and sisters and share with them this mercy, leading them to healing that can only come about through an encounter with the crucified and risen Christ. The Lord often uses us so that, like St Jude, after allowing the glory of the Lord’s face to rest upon us and gradually transform us into his likeness, we in turn gaze upon others and become instruments in the Lord’s hands by allowing his light to shine upon them through us, we allow him to look upon them with a loving gaze, through concrete gestures of love, a kind word, a loving silence which is ready to listen, and by the time we dedicate to others.

Through the intercession of St Jude, may we allow Christ’s image to be imprinted within us to continually transform us into a more perfect reflection of himself so, even if simply through our gaze or our smile, “with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror” upon our world and upon our brothers and sisters in our times.