“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” (Luke 2:10)


It was coming, it was coming! The little fish twirled around its bowl as fast as it could, golden scales twinkling. Unable to believe it was happening, the fish stared out of it’s glass home in amazement. It was real! The Cat really was coming! The little fish let out a whoop of joy and began to worship it, singing the song it created when it first learned of the Feline, the day when it experienced it’s power and grace for the first time.


Back then it had only been a little fingerling; new to the world and ready to tear it apart, while confined spaces and inexperience made it ready to believe it could. Instead it came to know the Cat. Before the day the Feline appeared before it, the fish didn’t believe in miracles, but it’s hard to deny when one walks right in front of your window. Certainly the fish had heard of the Cat, but it had refused to believe, preferring instead to think it was just a story told to frighten little fry into being good. But this was real – undeniably so! The strong, little body as it passed by the window was like nothing the fish had seen before. Impossibly soft scales shimmered under the early morning light, the breaking dawn providing the perfect backdrop, flaring around the creature and giving it a golden halo of light. The fish stared in awe, overwhelmed by a sudden sense of joy. In that moment the little fish realized what the Cat wanted for it’s life.


Several times after that, the fish watched the Cat move by it, each time a more intense spiritual experience than the last. Before long it had produced elegant songs that it gurgled quietly whenever it thought about the magnificent being. Every time it passed by, the fish felt uniquely blessed to have someone as unworthy as it visited so often.
And now the Cat approached, coming closer than it ever had before. The fish swam around its bowl in glee, thankful that the Cat had heard and responded to it’s prayers and devotions. The barrier that had separated them was torn down, and now the Feline had come to it, to bear it away to heaven as the fish had always known it would. Looking up through the water in wonderment, the fish watched the holy creature look down at it and lick it’s jowls. To be the focus of the Cat’s attention! The fish swam up to it’s waiting paws to be taken away to eternal bliss. But instead of joy there was pain. The fish’s lungs burned. This was punishment though – a trial for it’s times of sin and ignorance. The fish could endure. For what was pain when it was chosen by the Cat? Looking up to comfort itself, the fish felt an overwhelming love for it’s savior.


Then it saw the teeth.