Saint Catherine of Siena’s Best Fish Quote

"The soul is in God and God in the soul, just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish."  

-Saint Catherine Siena 

Communion with God

When we hear Saint Catherine say, 'The soul is in God and God is in the soul' we can think of Jesus' promise to the nascent church that he would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always” -Jn 14:17. 

Jesus was, in effect, promising them supernatural animation in a new kind of life, his own life, the divine life. We receive this divine life from the Holy Spirit, who in the creed we call, ‘the Lord, the Giver of life’.

Through a new, divine life we enter into an interpersonal communion that even Adam and Eve didn’t have while in Eden. They had a friendship with God and walked with him but they were not ‘in him’. 

Speaking about what would happen when the life-giving Spirit comes on Pentecost, Jesus said,

“On that day (Pentecost) you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.” Jn 14:20.

Later Jesus says,

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" -Jn 15:4-5. 

The Fish

Saint Catherine said, "the fish is in the sea." The fish is a very important and ancient Christian symbol. It refers to the many miraculous catches of fish that the fisherman Peter and his band were delighted to haul into their barque. Just as when they became ‘fishers of men’ and hauled into the Church converts by the thousands. 

The fish is the Christian who becomes a little, ‘other-Christ’ born into a new life in the waters of baptism. Perhaps, this is why so many baptismal fonts have a circular womb shape. As early as the second century the idea that mother Church gives birth to her fish-like children was known.

"But we, little fishes after the example of our [Great] Fish, Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor have we safety in any other way than by permanently abiding in water. So that most monstrous creature, who had no right to teach even sound doctrine, knew full well how to kill the little fishes—by taking them away from the water!” -Tertullian, A.D. 203. 

Christ himself is the original fish. The Greek word, ICHTHYS, means fish. It is used as a secret code for Jesus because it is also an acronym: (I)Jesus, (CH)Christ, (THY)Son of God, (S) Savior.

The fish also refers to the Eucharist.  These fish are often depicted on the table before Christ at the Last Supper. In many of the ancient mosaics and paintings in the catacombs, the eucharistic fish marks the sarcophagi of many holy martyrs and saints. When we consume the Eucharist, we are consuming his substantial and real presence, therefore as we partake of Jesus, he partakes of us. Slowly over time we become what we eat. We're transfomed and sanctified from the inside out as we are in him and he is in us. 

The Sea

"And the sea is in the fish"... In the ancient world, the sea was thought of as wild and chaotic. It was the perfect abode of the sea serpent demons and their leader, Leviathan.

Perhaps this is why we anoint a child with the oil of catechumens as we pray the prayer of exorcism all as preparation to enter into the deadly waters of baptism. After all Saint Paul said, 

“Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life” -Romans 6:3-4.

The sea was dangerous, especially in the first century. Archeologists have recovered from the Sea of Galilee what they call, ‘Peter's boat’. It was a first-century fishing vessel that was approximately 27 feet long and 7.5 feet wide. There were many flash storms that sprung up which could easily overcome such a small vessel. We know that Jesus calmed some of those nasty squalls with his mighty command, ‘Be still!’. 

Back then, the sea was entered or crossed by necessity not for recreation or amusement. The sea is a microcosm of the fallen world. The one which began after the original sin caused Adam and Eve to tread barefoot on thorns and thistles. The sea contains all of this foul pathology which from his cross Jesus redeemed and made a source of salvation by calling it ‘your cross’. “Take up your cross and follow me” -Mt 16:24.

The sea, if it’s truly an analogy for the fallen world, is certainly in us. We all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of the Lord. But I think here, Saint Catherine meant that 'the sea in the fish' is God’s life and essence is his Church members. 

For Catherine, the sea is the opposite of fallenness and sin. It is the Lord’s saving grace and for us. It is the air we breathe. It is like Saint Faustina's 'Ocean of Mercy' when Jesus told her, "I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy".

Saint Catherine’s sea washes us and becomes a sign that we are to seek after the water that only Jesus could give.“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” -Jn 4:13-14.

 "The soul is in God and God in the soul, just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish."

Saint Catherine Siena pray for us.