“To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
To shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace — the dawn-image is applied to the situation of those living in darkness and the shadow of death — Isaiah 9:2 (the people walking in darkness have seen a great light). The guide our feet into the path of peace (hodos eirēnēs) is the Benedictus's final vision: the messianic peace, the shalom that is the comprehensive well-being of God's restored community.
Church Fathers on Luke 1:79
Christ is rightly called the Day-spring, because He has disclosed to us the rising of the true light, as it follows; To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
By darkness he means not material darkness, but error or and distance from the faith, or ungodliness.
For in thick darkness were the Gentile people sitting, who were sunk deep in idolatry, until the rising light dispersed the darkness, and spread abroad the brightness of truth.
Read all 8 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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