Life And Light

Et vita erat lux hominum. Quo verbo aperte docetur quod ipsa vitalis per quam omni disposita sunt et reguntur: non omnem creaturam, sed rationabilem tantum, ut sapere possit illuminat. Homines namque, qui ad imaginem Dei facti sunt, percipere sapientiam possunt, animalia non possunt. Sed animalis quicunque est homo, non percipit ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei. Unde bene cum dixisset: Et vita erat lux hominum, subjunxit, et de his qui ab humanae conditionis honore procul recedentes, comparati sunt jumentis insipientibus, et similes facti sunt illis, atque ideo rectae voluntatis luce privantur. Sanctus Beda, In Ioannis Evangelium Expositio, Liber I, Caput I Source: Migne PL 92.639c

And the life was the light of men. 1 With which words he openly teaches that it is through this living one that all has been arranged and is ruled, but He does not illuminate every creature but only those who are rational, that is, those who are able to know. For men, who are made according to the image of God, can all attain to wisdom, and animals cannot. Yet there is a bestial man who does not perceive the things which are of the Spirit of God. 2 Whence it is well said, 'And the light was the light of men,' which alludes to those who have withdrawn far from the honour of the human condition, comparing them to mindless beasts, and that they made like them, 3 and therefore they are deprived of the light of a good will. Saint Bede, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book1, Chapter 1 1 Jn 1.4 2 1 Cor 2.14 3 Ps 48.13