St Hilary, 315-368. Doctor of Christ's Divinity. Feast, Jan 13th.

St Hilary began to discover union with God, as all will, by living a good life and reading the bible. Good works and faith join us to God in a special manner that is intimate and sacred. If you think you are too old to serve the church, investigate Hilary. If you are married and have children you might be able to identify with Hilary more readily because he too was married, had children, including a daughter, named Apra. Hilary wasn't always a believer, so if you were ever a non-believer, you might be able to find something in common with Hilary.

Spiritual conversation with God or any of the saints, that you might feel some identity with, is the beginning to prayer that can be holistic and reassuring. Faith is a powerful gift that can capture one's heart and mind and motivate one to draw strength and inspiration. Try conversing with Hilary! Inasmuch as Hilary is the only doctor of the church who was married, he could serve as a superb model for all husbands. His role as bishop would also provide an excellent example for those in that category.

Our converted and reformed doctor was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1851, nearly a millennium and a half after he died. Thanks to St Hilary's unmovable stance on the divinity of Jesus Christ, many Christians, down through the ages, have developed a personal devotion to the sacred divinity and humanity of Jesus. After all, he is both man and God. We can only know both by faith. By his defeat of the Arian heresy, the catholic church upheld this dogma and doctrine which is one of her finest jewels and precious treasure. This fact establishes our faith as one of a kind and it is one of the most incredible facts and tenets of our religion. In the West, Hilary was the most tenacious and formidable adversary of Arianism according to Father Luigi Gambero whose book is listed in the sources.

There were nine doctors of the church alive during the lifetime of Hilary. There hasn’t been one doctor alive in our lifetime,(2000) prior to St Therese, for around two hundred years. When the church was beginning to flourish during the fourth century there were serious problems with the actual defining and describing who was Jesus Christ. There was a great emphasis on clarifying this marvelous carpenter who had died only about three hundred years previously. Many of the doctors grew up together and some entered the monastery or ministry together. Hilary was a singularly different doctor being married.

Hilary was living with his wife when he was chosen to become a bishop. He accepted this vocation and role rather reluctantly. His family was well known and lived in France. He was not young, brought up as a Pagan and found God gradually. If you research and read his life you will discover that he admitted being brought up in idolatry. He became the Bishop of Poitiers, France. Although he wrote a commentary on St. Matthew's gospel and the Psalms, his most noted writings were on the Trinity. This was considered his masterpiece and doctors Augustine, Leo and Thomas praised it for is theological clarity and insights. Most of what he wrote was in defending the church against Arianism and semi-Arianism. He is also credited with the earliest Latin-hymn writing. He caught the attention of the entire church by removing scandals and restoring discipline, peace and purity of faith. Hilary staunchly defended the Nicene Creed and everything that it clearly stated.

This saint protected the church from the Arians and the emperor and wouldn't go along with their interference in catholic matters. He too was exiled like other doctors and church leaders. He wrote the emperor offering public debate about the Arian issue. However, another bishop, who was a friend of the emperor, and who had banned Hilary, convinced the emperor to keep him away. It was only much later that his chief accuser, the Arian bishop, was excommunicated and deposed.

Our married doctor-bishop was accused of being a "disturber of the peace" and a troublemaker. The church was in a state of turmoil during this period. Heretical and orthodox doctrines clashed. Much of the trouble came not from ideas but from the wording of specific ideas. Hilary was really a reconciler and attempted to counsel the bishops of the West to reserve condemnation to the Arians. He was a gentle person who guarded the church by reconciling the bishops of France who, in fear or ignorance, accepted the Arian creed. There was obviously much confusion. Because Arian denied the divinity of Christ, Hilary felt the church was threatened by unsound doctrine. There were a lot of political collusions and it seemed that all the force of the empire came crushing down on Hilary.

Arianism denied the divinity of Christ. It spread rapidly during Hilary’s lifetime. The emperor, Constantius, ordered all the bishops of the West to sign a condemnation of Athanasius, the great defender of the faith in the East. Hilary refused! He was banished from France. He suffered exile as many others have done than to deny the belief that Jesus Christ was fully God both in his sacred humanity and divinity. Thank God for Hilary’s courageous stance. Where would our faith be without him?

Followers of Christ within the church, down through the centuries, have experienced controversy, problems, pain and frustration. This goes on today when different bishops say different things that seem to be a contradiction or are interpreted wrongly or inaccurately. Contradictions and daily challenges are the lot of authentic Christian living. We should not be surprised or confused in this manner.

We are constantly confronted with matters of conscience. We need to act and make decisions based upon our beliefs or change our beliefs that we can accept 100%. Life isn’t always easy. We are living in a valley of tears whether we want to admit it or not. Our traditional prayers inform us that although we have not been exiled as many of our brave forefathers for our faith, we nevertheless are in exile on earth. This is not our true and final home. We are on a journey home. We do not have on earth a final resting-place as we journey toward heaven. We constantly are being tested and tried with regard to our principles, our belief and our faith. Life is a test and Hilary and other defenders of our faith like him are superb models to help us ‘weather the storms of life’.

Where there is unity, discord will be minimum. Human nature is notorious faultfinding, divisive and petty. The entire mission and message of Jesus is to unite and help us establish harmony. Heaven will be perfect accord. On earth, we have to gingerly agree to disagree. God speaks to all and respect should be the responsibility of all. To be united with God requires sensitive listening, learning and acting. Respecting others and what they say allows us to live together in peace. Real peace is not only the absence of war. True peace is God’s gift to us. A peacemaker is one who seeks unity. Those who sincerely practice prayer and are peacemakers bless this world with abundant peace.

“Hilary tells us that in reading the bible the true believer must go beyond a purely superficial interpretation of the sacred text, because the word of God, in addition to its literal sense, conceals a deeper, spiritual or allegorical meaning. This deeper meaning has to be understood before one can achieve a full and perfect comprehension of the text”- taken from Gambero.

Hilary’s main writings on the Trinity and the defense on Christ’s divinity reveal God’s peace for us. When we embrace that trinitarian belief, God’s peace in us will be seen by others. It breaks forth and shines like the sun through the clouds. The Almighty has a marvelous way of revealing the Godhead when we allow the Supreme Being in us to move and guide our thoughts, words and action. God is above all a Revealer. Our Father has already sent the Son in flesh. His flesh is alive in us. Although Christ himself hides himself in our flesh, we should never doubt his presence. Listen to the beautiful quote of Hilary, the Doctor of the Church about what he said of Chirst's divinity.

“It is Christ dwelling in us through his flesh who gives us life”.

The humanity of Christ is inseparable from his divinity. Arianism denied this.

Hilary’s chief focus in attempting to defeat Arianism was to establish the divinity of Christ and his authentic peaceful message contained in the gospels. Hilary introduced Eastern theology to the West. He contributed to the development of Hymnology. He was a true champion and is called the ‘Athanasius of the West’ because of his struggles against those who wanted to deny Christ’s claim as the Son of God and Son of Mary.

The following is a prayer written by Hilary which shows his profound insight:

"Keep this piety of my faith undefiled, I beseech you, and let this be the utterance of my convictions even to the last breath of my spirit: that I may always hold fast to that which I profess in the creed of my regeneration when I was baptized in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, namely, that I may adore you, our Father, and your Son together with you, and that I may gain the favor of your Holy Spirit who is from you through the only-begotten. He is a suitable witness for my faith who says: 'Father, all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine,' my Lord Jesus Christ, who always abides as God in you, from you and with you who is blessed forever and ever. Amen"

It is fitting that when we celebrate the Lord’s baptism, which falls on the exact day as Hilary's feast day this year (1/13/08), we meditate on the above words of Hilary and the above highlighted words: "when I was baptized" and relate it to our own baptism and Jesus’ words. We might with Christ and Hilary ponder our own baptism. Who was it that baptized us? Who were our sponsors? What was the name of the church where the event took place? It will only be through the awareness of the Holy Spirit that each of us will be cognizant of our mission, our calling and our metier. Each of us have an apostolate, a profession and a ministry. Only God’s light will show us the way. If we are to please our heavenly Father as Jesus always did, then we must allow the light, wisdom and voice of God to penetrate our heart, mind and actions.

The above prayer of Hilary reveals that it was sometimes a struggle not to deny Christ when the Arian heresy was in full force. It can be a struggle for us today. He is one of our great models who lived under intense persecution. For that reason the church holds him in great honor and does not forget what he endured. Many rather easily denied Christ. This acknowledgement caused Hilary to be exiled along with many of our forefathers. Most of us will hardly ever experience this type of treatment. What has been passed down to us modern-day Christians is a great gift that we can not fully appreciate unless God graces us with his gift. We ought to thank God for this great gift by exercising our faith, faithfully. This requires, to some degree, conformity to our religion. Then, as we advance in the spiritual life, our living the faith will attain uniformity. This steeps us in holiness and oneness with creatures and the Creator.

Our saint would tell us that Christ’s divinity and humanity are two distinct natures united in one Person. You can’t have one without the other. In fact, some doctors of the church went so far as to say that it is only through the humanity that one will ever fully know the divinity. In church history we had a hersey called Eutychianism. This lethal heresy denied the human nature of Christ. Humans need humans. God is pure Spirit. Christ bridges the gap physically and spiritually. That is why the Church adamantly defends his precious natures and why we should too. We do this by touching, tasting and telling this lovable person how we feel and think about him frequently. The God-Man longs for us to hold conversations with him in order that he may lavish his gifts and graces upon us.

The above prayer of Hilary leaves no doubt, unsureness or ambiguity that Jesus is both God and man. If one can not understand how the eternal Word was made sacred flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, it is understandable and a mystery. The Supreme Being, the Trinity itself, is a solemn mystery. That truth states that there are three persons united in one union and unity in God.

The knowledge of Jesus Christ deepens with the practicing and learning of one’s faith. The church invites this realization to become fully perceived as no other religion can achieve. By participating in the real person of Jesus, both humanly and divinely, daily, through her abundant and powerful sources, especially in daily mass and communion, our faith is strengthened and enriched. By tasting, touching and talking with Jesus through his real body, blood, soul and divinity within the sacred species of bread and wine, after consecration, one’s feelings, ideas and faith in Christ and neighbor are nourished, sustained and profoundly maintained.

This type of prayer and involvement is unquestionably the sources of unimaginable Christlike transformation and blessings. This is genuine Catholicism touching all creation spiritually. This personal contact with God affords us the grace to pick ourselves up daily as we fail and struggle with life’s challenges. It fortifies us to venture out and attempt to do more for God’s creatures by reason of our union with the Creator of those same creatures. We actually know, feel and identify by reason of our assimilation into Christ. This is not theory about the mystical body. We become the mystical body. We are the mystical body. We realize more perceptionally that we are all connected to Christ in a mysterious manner. We are the mystical body, blood, soul and divinity by actual participation and involvement. Like natural food, we become what we eat supernaturally. The banquet of our Lord is a glorious feast that makes the angels marvel and cry out: holy, holy, holy!

The daily accessibility to Jesus Christ is too ‘mind-boggling’ to imagine, conceive or hoped for. God has, as it were, outdone himself, in gifts and giving. Holy Communion is impossible to prepare adequately for or to daily receive. Some saints grasped the awesomeness of this bestowal and preferred not to receive communion unless there was ample time to make a thanksgiving. It is for many reasons that Hilary would advise us to approach Mary in prayer and preparation to help us receive her Son in holy communion because it is both natural and supernatural. She is the Mother of the man and the Mother of God. Mary is a marvelous and wise guide. No one knew Jesus as Mary and she will be our spiritual mother too as she helped Hilary when he met his challenges. When we meet oppositions, Mary will be there, as she was there for Jesus and Hilary.

The last great church council, Vatican II, expressed twelve times in her written constitution that Jesus’ Mother, Mary, is “Mother of God”. Wasn’t she also a spiritual mother to all twelve of the apostles? When we prayerfully ponder the gospel, the same Spirit who inspired Hilary will inspire us too.

Thanks to Hilary and others, we have been helped to live out their faith, and ours now, by perpetuating this faith through their inspired writings indicating that Christ’s two natures are adored, treasured, cherished and loved. Hopefully our life will be gradually but irrevocably changed and transformed as often as we partake of the 'Bread of Angels' and the 'Flesh of the Son of Man' and Mary.

The doctor of Christ’s divinity, Hilary, staunchly defended the divinity of Christ by safeguarding for the church, Christ’s humanity. Christ is the invisible, Intruder who comes into a nature that was foreign to him. His aim is to invite and draw foreign and sinful intruders into his two natures. Jesus’ divinity becomes our humanity and our humanity becomes divinized through his divinity when we accept him in that manner.

Our Intruder comes to us daily. He is disguised, invisible and invincible in order to allow us to practice our faith, challenge our trust and fortified us in virtue. His historical coming over 2000 years ago is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow from a spiritual perspective. That’s the message of scripture, the gospels and our catholic faith. It is a sublime mystery. It is too incredible to be a possibility yet it remains a historical event. The human mind can not possibly conceive of what God has done for humankind. It staggers our mind from a creative standpoint and it should makes us tremble from a redemptive view.

Neither the church's teaching authority nor theologians have ever maintained that the necessary formal effect of biblical inspiration is historicity. That they are inspired does not make them historical. If items or details in them are judged to be historical, they are so for reasons other than their inspiration.

For those who struggle with their faith or do not practice it, God understands. There is always time on earth to learn and grow spiritually for those who seek and want God. One doesn’t have to have religion to know and love God. Wisdom cries from the street daily. Look at nature. Examine a flower. Everything cries aloud about the Creator. Everything in nature is a prayer beckoning us to praise the Author. Religion challenges us to hope.

The church traditionally always ends her liturgical prayers with the acknowledgement of the Father, Son or Holy Ghost. Our eternal Father is always blessing us with the Spirit through the Son who was sent to redeem us. It is always through him and with him and in him in the unity of the Holy Spirit that all honor and glory is given to the Father. Amen.

Non believers can know God from nature. Someone has said that the amen of nature is always a flower. Perhaps that person who said that received his or her inspiration from Christ who told us to look at the flowers of the field and see how they grow. Jesus informed us that the glory of old and all of Solomon’s wisdom (who was reputed to be the wisest of the wise), is nothing compared to how God clothed and covered the beauty of the fields with the lilies. Smell the scent of the lilies especially during the Easter season. It is enough to intoxicate you. The church lavishes their altars and drenches us with inebriated aromas to remind us of Christ's powerful and exuberant presence.

The humanity and divinity of the Man-God represents our natural and our supernatural world. Neither our senses nor our souls can grasp this profound mystery and ravishment. Our senses can not contain, hold or capture fully the pleasing scent of nature’s Easter lilies. How are we going to be able to fathom the rich flooding of our senses when Christ's divinity and humanity is given us? In communion, the body and blood is placed in our mouth, on our tongue and seeps into our blood stream. We can only bow in humble adoration. Words can’t express the inexpressible. Our soul can only fumble about. We are often speechless or numb depending on the consolations which God affords. Sometimes wonder and silence speaks volumes to God when we are unable.

It is the practice of our faith that speaks for us. Hilary and our loved ones, who have gone before us in faith, speak for us. It is the seeds of martyrs and those who stood up for truth that speak for us. It is those who have suffered persecution or who were exiled for that faith, that speak for us. They give us appreciation for our precious heritage.

Christ’s divinity and humanity are one for us. He is united to encourage us to be united with one another. That unity extends to the living and the dead. That’s the most earnest prayer of Jesus: that all may be one (living and deceased) as the Father is in the Son through their mutual Spirit. That’s the mystery of God. It’s mystical. It’s now. It’s the 'Mystical Body' of the church and those who belong to it in faith, hope or charity. It’s for those with or without religion or, without faith.

The Spirit and St Hilary of Poitiers inspire us to appreciate and value this sublime truth. Mary, the Mother of God is the Mother, Nurse and Flower of the church. She gave Jesus physical birth and his Father and Spirit gave him spiritual conception and birth. Mary nourished him as a baby and as a man. She was his divine treat. He was always returning home to her. They each gave and shared mutual love and encouragement despite the daily hatred, misunderstanding and misinterpretation of his sacred message.

It was through the prophets, like the Baptizer, the apostles and those consecrated virgins and martyrs who have contributed to the memory of Jesus. However, it is the Spirit, which allows us to become more aware of the total divinity and humanity of Jesus and to be understood according to our ability. The missionaries and the evangelizers and ourselves perpetuated the spread of our faith. It is through our forefathers and the Doctors of the Church, especially our devoted Hilary, which has allowed the church to bloom and flourish through Jesus’ humanity and divinity. He is the Son of Mary in time and the Son of God in eternity. St Mary and God have shared him with us. He is shared as man and he is shared as God. Our God is man and our man is our God. It is very simple and very sublime. Jesus’ message through the church and the gospel is “The kingdom of God is within us.” The words of our Bishop of Poitiers bear repeating. He said that it is Christ dwelling in us through his flesh who gives us life. Remember that he acknowledged himself as a Pagan, father, maverick, too old to serve the church, ignorant of the bible and most reluctant about religion. What God did for him, the Almighty can do for us if we have faith and believe in Jesus as both man and God. This is our faith. Treasure it well!

In Father Gambero’s book, which I have used frequently and which is listed in the sources, St Hilary boldly and bravely attested to the mystery of Mary. And that is what Mary is: the "Mystical Rose". Hilary was sensitive and attentive to the Spirit and to the Mother of the Lord. The Mother of Jesus has a place of considerable importance in the writings of St Hilary. He speaks of her universally and not only from his local Christian community acting as bishop.

“Hilary holds that the virginal conception of Jesus must have been such an overwhelming and sublime experience for his Mother that he could not imagine any choice other than a life lived in perpetual virginity. It became unthinkable for her to contemplate a conjugal life in the normal sense of the term”

On Hilary’s feast day in 2001, the gospel of Mark concludes by pointing out Jesus’ words. “People who are healthy do not need a doctor; sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not the self-righteous.” In the mediation of the day in the Magnificat Publication we hear Saint Hilary of Poiters magnanimous praise of Mary:

Having become man in his birth from the Virgin, Christ took upon himself the nature of human flesh so that through this commingling, the body of the whole human race was sanctified in him. And as all men have found in him their foundation, through his willingness to assume a bodily nature, so he was restored, in turn, to all men through his invisible existence. Thus the invisible image of God did not refuse the shame of being born in a human manner, passing through conception, birth, crying, cradle and all the humiliations proper to our nature.

And we, with what worthy gift shall we respond to a love so full of benevolence? Behold the only begotten of God, whose origin from God is absolutely inexpressible, planted like a seed in the womb of the holy Virgin developing little by little, taking on the form of a tiny body.

He who contains all things, in whom and through whom everything receives existence, behold he comes to light according to the human law of birth. He at whose voice archangels and angels tremble, at whose voice heaven, earth and all the elements of this world are unraveled, hark, the sound of this newborn wailing! The invisible and ungraspable, before whom sight, senses, and touch proclaim their helplessness, wrapped up, in a cradle.

The following is the Life of St Hilary from the Concise Edition on The Lives of the Saints by Butler’s Lives of the Saints and edited by Michael Walsh with a forward by Cardinal Basis Hume, O.S.B. and published by Harper & Row, Publishers, San Francisco, 1985.

St Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, Doctor of the Church (c. A.D. 368) St Hilary was born at Poitiers, and his family was illustrious in Gaul. He himself testifies that he was brought up in idolatry, and gives us a detailed account of the steps by which God conducted him to a knowledge of the faith when somewhat advanced in years.

The Emperor Constantius and a synod of Milan in 355 required all bishops to sign the condemnation of St Athanasius: such as refused to comply were banished. St Hilary wrote on that occasion his ‘First Book to Constantius’ , in which he entreated him to restore peace to the Church.

Hilary had been married before his conversion, and his wife, by whom he had a daughter names Apra, was yet living when he was chosen bishop of Poitiers, about the year 350. He did all in his power to escape this promotion; but his humility only made the people more earnest in their choice; and, indeed, their expectations were not disappointed, for his eminent qualities shone forth so brilliantly as to attract the attention not only Gaul, but of the whole Church. Soon after he was raised to the Episcopal dignity he composed, before his exile, a commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, which is still extant. That on the Psalms he compiled after his banishment. From that time on the Arian controversy chiefly employed his pen.

St Hilary went into exile about the middle of the year 356, and remained there for some years, which time he employed in composing several learned works. The principal and most esteemed of these is that On the Trinity. The earliest Latin hymn-writing is associated with the name of Hilary of Poitiers.

The emperor, again interfering in the affairs of the Church, assembled a council of Arians, at Seleucia in Isauria, to neutralize the decrees of the Council of Nicea. St Hilary, who had then passed three years in Phrygia, was invited by the semi-Arians, who hoped that he would be useful to their party in crushing those who adhered strictly to the doctrine of Arius. But he boldly defended the decrees of Nicaea, till at last, tired out with controversy, he withdrew to Constantinople and presented to the emperor a request, called his ‘Second Book to Constantius’, begging permission to hold a public disputation about religion with Saturninus, the author of his banishment. The issue of this challenge was that the Arians, dreading such a trial, persuaded the emperor to rid the East of a man who never ceased to disturb its peace. Constantius accordingly sent him back into Gaul in 360.

St Hilary returned through Illyricum and Italy to confirm the weak. He was received at Poitiers with great demonstrations of joy. A synod in Gaul, convoked at the instance of Hilary, condemned that of Rimini in 359; and Saturninus, proving obstinate, was excommunicated and deposed. Scandals were removed, discipline, peace and purity of faith were restored. The death of Constantius in 361 put an end to the Arian persecution. Hilary undertook a journey to Milan in 364 to confute Auxentius, the Arian usurper of that see, and in a public disputation obliged him to confess Christ to be the true God, our the same substance and divinity with the Father. St Hilary, indeed, saw through his hypocrisy; but Auxentius so far imposed on the Emperor Valentinian as to pass for orthodox. Hilary died at Poitiers, probably in the year 368, but neither the year nor the day can be determined with certainty.

St Hilary was proclaimed a doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1851

Hilary's links are below on the following subject: 1) On the Councils, on the Faith of the Easterns; 2) On the Trinity 3) Homilies on the Psalms:

http://newadvent.org/fathers/
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainth02.htm
http://www.tparents.org/Library/Religion/Christian/Fathers/NPNF2-09/Npnf2-09-02.htm
http://bible.crosswalk.com/History/AD/EarlyChurchFathers/
http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/father/a5.html#hilary
http://www.cin.org/saints/hilary.html

Henry was a nonbeliever at one time. If anyone is a nonbeliever or who was Catholic once and is no longer practicing their faith, they might want to click the below link for inactive Catholics:

http://www.oncecatholic.org/

Hilary is the only Doctor of the Church who was married and a father. The below sites and information are on Christian fatherhood, womanhood, family, marriage and the engaged.

St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers, Christian fatherhood: online resource for dads:

http://www.dads.org/
http://www.thejosephfoundation.com/summary.htm

The voice of women for faith and family:
http://www.wf-f.org/

The engaged:
http://members.aol.com/blestiam/engagedcouples/cana.htm#ARE%20YOU%20GIVING

The book, "Secular Saints" by Joan Carroll Cruz, lists over 100 married couples that are canonized or beatified. It is an exciting book that will stimulate your marriage and draw you into union with God. This marvelous book, written by the best selling author of the "The Incorruptibles" will enlighten and move you to new heights. Mrs Cruz writes with incredible clarity and inspiration. Her writings are profoundly exemplary and most needed in an age when the 'state of marriage' has changed dramatically. Go to:

http://www.tanbooks.com/ Then look up the title: "Secular Saints."