Then there is the global moon, which is also associated with the Virgin Mary, reflecting as it does the light of the sun, just as Mary reflects the light of her Son who is in Heaven.
On this account He made the luminaries of heaven, the sun and the moon so that in dividing the day and the night, they might symbolise the Sun of Justice, Christ, and His holy mother, who is beautiful as the moon (Cant: 6, 9) for these two divide the day of grace and the night of sin. (Mary of Agreda: The Mystical City of God.)
St Basil, in his Hexaemeron, explains why God created light before the sun:
‘However, the sun and the moon did not yet exist, in order that those who live in ignorance of God may not consider the sun as the origin and father of light, or as the maker of all that grows out of the earth. That is why there was a fourth day, and then God said: “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven.”’ (Hm. VI:2)
Besides the day, night and seasons, there are smaller, if not any less spectacular signs in the heavens for us to wonder at. First there are the eclipses of the sun. This comes about because although the sun and moon are at different distances from the Earth, God gave them the same size as viewed from the Earth. This is why there occurs a total eclipse as seen from certain parts of the Earth, when the moon covers the sun, both having the same circuмference.Such is the wonder of a total eclipse that the prospects of seeing one can attract people from all over the Earth to witness the marvel with their own eyes. For some time after the event, the newspapers, TV and journals are filled with reports of it, a demonstration that no other spectacle on Earth or in the sky can match. Often, they tell of a ‘spiritual’ dimension to this awesome coordination of cosmic bodies, leaving men, women and children drained with emotion.
An eclipse of the Earth’s moon, while less spectacular than a solar eclipse, is nevertheless another wondrous ‘sign.’ A lunar eclipse happens when the sun passes behind the Earth causing the shadow of the Earth to cover the moon. Now whereas a solar eclipse lasts only minutes, the maximum duration of a lunar eclipse is 2 hours for passing through the umbra, and 4 hours through both the umbra and the penumbra. What occurs is not the appearance of a blackening like a solar eclipse, but a variable and unpredictable change of colours, from bright light to a coppery or blood-red colour, occasionally even a bright orange yellow to dull red, depending on the atmospheric conditions.
‘No words or photograph can really convey the breath-taking beauty and ‘atmosphere’ of this moment which seems to affect the whole of nature, and it is indeed a pity that so few people have the opportunity of seeing a total eclipse of the Sun. It is something never to be missed.’
‘Words cannot convey the beauty of a total eclipse of the Moon, nor the impression produced by the sight of a dull red disc apparently bathed in the glow of some great celestial inferno, set in a sky filled with stars which the normal brilliance of the full moon would prevent our seeing.’--Larousse Encyclopaedia of Astronomy, Librairie Larousse, 1959, p.167