Posted on 01/13/2019 6:11:58 PM PST by Salvation
Post by Franciscan Media
Statue of Saint Hilary of Poitiers | en l'Église Saint-Hilaire de Givet | photo by G.Garitan
Image: Statue of Saint Hilary of Poitiers | en l’Église Saint-Hilaire de Givet | photo by G.Garitan
Saint Hilary of Poitiers
Saint of the Day for January 13 (c. 315 – c. 368)
Saint Hilary of Poitiers’ Story This staunch defender of the divinity of Christ was a gentle and courteous man, devoted to writing some of the greatest theology on the Trinity, and was like his Master in being labeled a “disturber of the peace.” In a very troubled period in the Church, his holiness was lived out in both scholarship and controversy. He was bishop of Poitiers in France.
Raised a pagan, he was converted to Christianity when he met his God of nature in the Scriptures. His wife was still living when he was chosen, against his will, to be the bishop of Poitiers in France. He was soon taken up with battling what became the scourge of the fourth century, Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ.
The heresy spread rapidly. Saint Jerome said “The world groaned and marveled to find that it was Arian.” When 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 and was banished from France to far off Phrygia. Eventually he was called the “Athanasius of the West.”
While writing in exile, he was invited by some semi-Arians (hoping for reconciliation) to a council the emperor called to counteract the Council of Nicea. But Hilary predictably defended the Church, and when he sought public debate with the heretical bishop who had exiled him, the Arians, dreading the meeting and its outcome, pleaded with the emperor to send this troublemaker back home. Hilary was welcomed by his people.
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Reflection Christ said his coming would bring not peace but a sword (see Matthew 10:34). The Gospels offer no support for us if we fantasize about a sunlit holiness that knows no problems. Christ did not escape at the last moment, though he did live happily ever after—after a life of controversy, problems, pain and frustration. Hilary, like all saints, simply had more of the same.
Religion Moderator's Guidelines to Caucus/Prayer/Ecumenical threads
Saint of the Day Ping!
PRAYER ADAPTED FROM ST. HILARY OF POTIERS
As we spread our sails of trusting faith and public avowal before you,
fill them with the breath of your Spirit,
to drive us on as we begin this course of proclaiming your truth.
We have been promised, and he who made the promise is trustworthy:
Ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find; knock,
and it will be opened to you.
Lord, your mercy....
Yes, in our poverty we will pray for our needs.
We will study the sayings of your prophets and apostles with unflagging attention,
and knock for admittance wherever the gift of understanding is safely kept.
But yours it is, Lord,
to grant our petitions, to be present when we seek you and to open when we knock.
Lord, your mercy....
There is an inertia in our nature that makes us dull;
and in our attempt to penetrate your truth
we are held within the bounds of ignorance by the weakness of our minds.
Yet we do comprehend divine ideas by earnest attention to your teaching
and by obedience to the faith which carries us beyond mere human apprehension.
So we trust in you to inspire the beginnings of this ambitious venture,
to strengthen its progress,
and to call us into a partnership in the spirit with the prophets and the apostles.
Lord, your mercy....
To that end, may we grasp precisely what they meant to say,
taking each word in its real and authentic sense.
For we are about to say
what they already have declared as part of the mystery of revelation:
that you are the eternal God, the Father of the eternal, only-begotten God;
that you are one and not born from another;
and that the Lord Jesus is also one, born of you from all eternity.
We must not proclaim a change in truth regarding the number of gods.
We must not deny that he is begotten of you who are the one God;
nor must we assert that he is other than the true God,
born of you who are truly God the Father.
Lord, your mercy....
Father, keep us from vain strife of words.
Grant to us constant profession of the Truth!
Preserve us in a true and undefiled faith
so that we may hold fast to that which we professed when we were baptized
in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
that we may have Thee for our Father,
that we may abide in Thy Son
and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
now and forever, AMEN.
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