Light And Darkness

Lux in tenerbis lucet... Christus iterum lux est secundum quod Deus; de quo Ioannis duodecimo: Ego lux in mundum veni, ut omnis qui credit in me, non maneat in tenebris; quod refertur ad Divnitatem; credimus enim in Christum Dominum, non in hominem secundum quod homo. Nota autem, quod lux habet puritatem in materia, speciositatem in forma, sublimitatem in situ. Christus autem secundum quod Deus est lux altissima, lux purissima, lux speciosissima. Altitudo attestatur potentiae, speciositas sapientiae, puritas bonitati. Est igitur Christus lux altissima; primae ad Timotheum ultimo: Lucem inhabitat inacessibilem. Lux speciossima, Sapientiae septimo: Speciosior est sole et super omnem dispositionem stellarum luci comparata invenitur prior. Lux purissima, primae Ioannis primo: Deus lux est, et tenebrae in eo non sunt ullae. Haec lux lucet interius secundum operationes divinae naturae. Emittit autem interius triplicem lucem sive lumen, lumen scientiae, Psalmus: Emitte lucem tuam et veritatem tuam, item, Illumina oculos meos, ne unquam obdormiam in morte. Lumen gratiae, Isaiae quinquagesimo ocatvo: Orietur in tenebris lux lua, et sexagesimo: Surge, illuminare, Ierusalem, quia venit lumen tuum. Lumen laetitiae spiritulais, Psalmus: Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui, Domine; dedisti laetitiam in corde meo, quocontra dicitur Threnorum tertio: Minavit me Dominus et adduxit in tenebras et non in lucem. Sequitur: Et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt... Ubi reprehenditur ignorantia humanae caecitatis. Circa quod considerandum est, quae sint istae tenbrae, et qui illorum defectus. Tenebrae istae peccatores sunt, qui in tenebris sunt, et tenebras quaerunt, et ad tenebras tendunt. In tenebris spiritualibus sunt, tenebras temporales quaerunt et ad tenebras aeternales tendunt. In tenebris sunt, Psalmus: Nescierunt neque intellexerunt in tenebris ambulant. Ecclesiastici undecimo: Error et tenebrae peccatoribus concreata sunt. Tenebras quaerunt, Ioannis tertio: Dilexerunt homines magis tenebras quam lucem, erant enim eorum mala opera. As tenebras tendunt, in Canonica Iudae: Quibus procella tenebrarum servata est in aeternum; Iob decimo: Dimitte me, ut plangam paululum dolorem meum, antequam vadam et non revertar ad terram tenebrosam et opertam mortis caligine. Isti ergo tenebrae sunt. In comprehensione autem lucis deficiunt, quia aversi; Psalmus: Averterunt se et non servaverunt pactum. Quia operti, Psalmus: Operti sunt iniquitate et impietate sua. Quia caeci, Matthaei decimo quinto: Sinite eos, caeci sunt et duces caecorum. Avertuntur Deum deserendo, operiuntur peccatum operando, excaecantur in peccato perseverando. Sanctus Bonaventura, Collationes In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput I Source: Here, p536

The light shone in the darkness... 1 Again Christ is light in that He is God, concerning which the twelfth chapter of John says: 'I have come as a light to the world that all who believe in me do not remain in darkness,' 2 which refers to His Divinity, for we believe in Christ the Lord, not in the man according to which He is man. And let it be noted that the light has purity in matter, and beauty in form and sublimity in place. Christ in that which He is God is the highest light and the purest light and the most beautiful light. The height declares His power, the beauty His wisdom, the purity His goodness. Therefore Christ is the highest light in the last chapter of the first letter to Timothy: 'He dwells in inaccessible light.' 3 The light is most beautiful in the seventh chapter of Wisdom: 'More beautiful than the sun and the arrangement of the stars, and compared to light found superior.' 4 The light is purest in the first letter of John: 'God is light and there is no darkness at all in Him.' 5 This light shines forth from within according to the works of the Divine nature. And it shines from within according to a threefold light or illumination. The light of knowledge, as in the Psalm: 'Send forth your light and your truth.' 6 And again: 'Illuminate my eyes lest they should ever sleep in death.' 7 The light of grace, as in the fifty eighth chapter of Isaiah: 'Your light shall rise in darkness.' 8 And in the sixtieth chapter: 'Rise, shine, Jerusalem, because your light has come.' 9 The light of spiritual joy as in the Psalm: 'The light of your face is sealed upon us, O Lord; you have given joy to my heart.' 10 Against which the third chapter of Lamentations says: 'The Lord has threatened me and led me into darkness and not into light.' 11 It follows: And the darkness could not comprehend it... Here the ignorance of human blindness is reproved. According to which one must consider what this darkness is and what its defects are. This darkness is sinners, those who are in the darkness, and they seek the darkness and to the darkness they tend. They are in spiritual darkness, and in temporal darkness they seek and to eternal darkness they tend. In darkness they are, as in the Psalm: 'They do not know and they do not understand, they walk in darkness.' 12 In the eleventh chapter of Ecclesiasticus: 'Error and darkness were created with sinners.' 13 They seek the darkness, in the third chapter of John: 'Men loved the darkness more than the light, for their works were evil.' 14 In the letter of Jude: 'For whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever.' 15 In the tenth chapter of Job: 'Allow me that I might bewail a little less my woes, before I go and do not return into a dark land, covered with the darkness of death.' 16 These are the darkness. And in the comprehension of the light they are deficient because they are averse. In the Psalm: 'They turn themselves away and do not guard the covenant.' 17 Because they are covered, in the Psalm: 'They are covered with iniquity and their impiety.' 18 Because they are blind, in Matthew chapter fifteen: 'Allow them, they are blind and leaders of the blind.' 19 They turn away and because they forsake God they are covered with the working of sin, and they are blinded because they persevere in it. Saint Bonaventura, Observations On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 1 1 Jn 1.5 2 Jn 12.46 3 1 Tim 6.16 4 Wisd 7.29 5 1 Jn 1.5 6 Ps 42.3 7 Ps 12.4 8 Isaiah 58.10 9 Isaiah 60.1 10 Ps 4.7 11 Lamen 3.2 12 Ps 81.5 13 Sirach 11.16 14 Jn 3.19 15 Jude 13 16 Job 10.20-21 17 Ps 77.57 18 Ps 72.6 19 Mt 15.14