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7 Christ the Light Throughout this book we have incorporated Christological elements within each of the chapters, with the exception of the chapter on the nature of light. We have seen how Christ makes holy teaching possible through his illuminative teaching, how he expands our capacity to talk about God, how his splendor is a reflection of God’s glory, how he both creates and re-creates our intellectual capacities, and how he makes it possible for us to turn from the dark to the light in our moral acts. All of these outcomes are the result of what Aquinas sees as the effects of grace that are the purpose of the mission of the Son, to illumine our minds so that the Spirit may kindle our affections.1 This chapter will expand upon this theme and fill in a few gaps where the full illuminative mission of the Son has not been discussed. Light the Work of Love Without the mission of the Son, who takes up human nature in the Incarnation, humans through the darkness of ignorance and sin would be trapped in darkness,2 so Christ comes to illumine all humans in a mission to rescue us from the darkness and restore us to the light. Aquinas argues that the Incarnate Son accomplishes three excellent works, those of creation, illumination, and justification.3 Yet, as we have seen, there are aspects of a theology of light in each of these works, not just in the work of illumination. Christ creates the 1. ST I 43.5 ad 3. 2. In Col. 2.4 §128: “They were not holding fast to the head, that is, Christ, by faith. Such people are deceived, because without Christ they are in the dark.” 3. In Heb. prooemium §3: “Here it should be noted that the matchless work of Christ is threefold: one extends to every creature, namely, the work of creation: ‘All things were made through Him’ (Jn. 1:3); a second extends to the rational creature, who is illumined by Christ, namely, the work of illumination: ‘He was the true light which illumines every man that comes into the world’ (Jn. 1:9); the third extends 199 light, illumines us, and returns us to the light by making us just. All of this, however, is a work of love in which Christ creates us for, illumines us about, and restores us to friendship with God. Aquinas makes the connection between light and love explicit in his commentary on Christ’s miracle of walking on the water, explaining that [i]n the mystical sense, the “dark” signifies the absence of love; for light is love, according to: “He who loves his brother dwells in the light” (1 Jn 2:10). Accordingly, there is darkness in us when Jesus, “the true light” (Jn 1:9) does not come to us, because his presence repels all darkness.4 This light and love come in a way that reveals the deep secrets of God, since those that draw closer to Christ for illumination receive “the secrets of divine wisdom,” which are “especially revealed to those who are joined to God by love.”5 Ultimately, to know Christ is to know God’s love, since Christ’s work is itself an act of love: For whatever occurred in the mystery of human redemption and Christ’s incarnation was the work of love. He was born out of charity . . . That he died also sprang from charity. . . . It follows that to know Christ’s love is to know all the mysteries of Christ’s Incarnation and our Redemption. These have poured out from the immense charity of God; a charity exceeding every created intelligence and the [combined] knowledge of all of them because it cannot be grasped in thought. Thus he says “which surpasses all natural knowledge” and every created intellect. . . . For the charity of Christ is [the manifestation of] what God the Father has accomplished through Christ.6 We must only “believe and love” Christ to reap the rewards of his charity, and by following his light we receive the reward of eternal light.7 The remainder of this chapter will explore the additional ways that Christ’s illuminating love for us is expressed through his healing and redemptive work to justification, which pertains only to the saints, who are vivified and sanctified by Him, i.e., by lifegiving grace.” 4. In Ioh. 6.2 §877. 5. In Ioh. 13.4 §1807. 6. In Eph. 3...

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