"And God said, 'Let there be light,'
and there was light."
(Gn 1:3)

In the Hebrew view, darkness was associated with the abyss of the primal ocean. The light which God created illumines the chaotic darkness and this is seen as the first day (day and night) even before the creation of the sun.

St. Thomas Aquinas with his deep, intuitive and logical mind says that the creation of light on the "first day" seems to have been required for two reasons: First in order to remove the formless darkness that existed. Second, because light is a common quality found in terrestrial forms as well and in the heavens. It was fitting therefore that Divine wisdom should produce light first as the common quality of the primary body. (Summa Theologica, Part I, The Six Days, No. 67,4)

This comes close to our scientific view of creation. Creation began with an intense burst of energy from which evolved the universe as we see it today. Einstein gave us the equation which means that energy and matter are two sides of the same reality. Our sun and our earth are made up of the same primal stuff or energy in different forms.

St. Augustine thought that the creation of the angels is included in this primordial light. He says that the angels were made partakers of God's eternal light which is the Wisdom of God. "Thus the angels illuminated by the Light which created them, became light and were called 'day' ... which is the Word of God, by whom they and all things were made." 72 Augustine here shifts the meaning of light to the spiritual realm of intelligences who by their power, knowledge and wisdom are part of God's way to govern the material universe.

Immortal, Invisible....

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Light of Life