The first reading today in the Catholic Church’s celebration of the Assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus, into heaven after her death, is a reading from the Book of Revelation written by John the Evangelist.
When I was a child and heard Revelation’s description of a bright red beast with seven heads and ten horns, I used to wonder how you could have ten horns divided among seven heads. Now with the benefit of Google Images it is possible to bring together the ideas of different artists trying to depict that scene. Some heads get three horns, some get two, some one, and some none! It’s a good thing the apocalyptic imagery isn’t meant to be taken literally.
