St. Hilary of Poitiers

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Monday, 13 January 2025 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the beginning of the Ordinary Time, the first of the two seasons of the Ordinary Time of the liturgical year, with this first season lasting from now until the beginning of the season of Lent. This Ordinary time and season is however by no means ‘ordinary’ lest we misunderstood the meaning of this period and time. The word Ordinary here comes from the word ‘Ordinal’ which means numbered, from the fact that the Sundays of this season are numbered in sequence.

That is why this period of time after the time of Christmas and before the beginning of the Lenten season should not be a period of inactivity and passivity, or a time when we ignore our obligations and calling to do what is right and appropriate for us to do as God’s holy and beloved people, as His disciples and followers, to whom God had entrusted His Church and His missions in our world today. All of us should instead be active in embracing the many opportunities that God has granted to us, the chances we have been given so that we may touch the lives of others in a good way.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author of this Epistle spoke about the coming of the salvation of God which has been fulfilled and completely revealed through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who had been sent into this world to be the Redeemer of all mankind, restoring all of us back to the state of grace, and the author also revealed to us that this Saviour was truly the Son of God, Who has been incarnate into the flesh, assuming our humanity, human nature and existence, becoming the Son of Man, appearing in our midst to lead us all into salvation in God.

And as the title of this Epistle suggests to us, the words of the author of this Epistle, commonly attributed to St. Luke the Evangelist, they are directed to the Jewish people, to whom the Lord was first sent to, to fulfil everything which the Lord has promised to all of His people throughout history. The author spoke of the One Whom the Jewish people has encountered, Jesus Christ Himself, Who has come, showing the great Wisdom of God in His various words and teachings among them with authority, and the power which God has exercised through Him, in His various miracles and wonders.

Therefore, the author of this Epistle to the Hebrews proclaimed to the Jewish community, both to strengthen the faith of those who have believed in Christ, and also to convince and persuade those who have not yet believed in Him, that the Lord Jesus Christ, was indeed the Holy One Whom God had sent into this world to lead everyone into salvation and eternal life. It is also a reminder for all of us Who it is that we have served, and the One through Whom our salvation has come from, what we have celebrated earlier on in Christmas, and which we now need to proclaim courageously in our world today.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which the account about the time when the Lord Jesus called His first disciples, the four fishermen of the lake of Galilee, namely St. Peter and his brother St. Andrew, and also the two sons of Zebedee, St. James and St. John, were told to us, and we heard how God called them all to be the ones to lead mankind to Him and His salvation, to become the fishers of men. And that was what they would be doing henceforth, committing themselves to the good cause of the Lord.

Hence, all of us are reminded through what we have heard in that passage today that we are all called to the service of God, to do what the Lord has entrusted to us, His gifts, talents, abilities and all the opportunities that He has provided to each one of us. All of us as Christians have been tasked to proclaim the Lord and His truth in our communities today, and to live in a truly Christian manner, putting the Lord our God ever at the centre and heart of our whole lives and existence, so that we will always do our best in glorifying Him by our lives, and showing Him to many others around us.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Hilary, also known as St. Hilary of Poitiers, who was the Bishop of Poitiers during the late era of the Roman Empire. He was born from a pagan family who embraced Christianity, and was raised with good and comprehensive education in the classics and philosophy. At that time, the Church was bitterly divided by those who supported the then very popular and powerful Arian heresy which denied the equality of Christ the Son of God with the Father, and those who upheld the true, orthodox teaching of the faith.

St. Hilary of Poitiers was elected to be the new bishop of Poitiers during that time of division and confusion among the faithful, and immediately the new bishop committed himself to oppose the false teachings of Arianism, and he worked hard to restore order and unity to the faithful under his care in Poitiers, while also doing a lot of work in the wider Church to oppose the influence of Arianism and other heresies, as well as ministering to his flock to the best of his abilities. He faced a lot of hardships and difficulties, opposition from those who did not agree with him, and even exile by the authorities, but he remained firm in his courageous efforts and works for the good of the Church and the faithful.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore follow in the footsteps of St. Hilary and many other holy saints, holy men and women of God, all of whom had devoted themselves, their time and effort to proclaim the truth and Good News of God to others around them, like the Apostles before them. And all of us as Christians are entrusted with the same mission to evangelise and to spread the Good News of God to more and more people all around the world. May the Lord be with us always and may He continue to empower us all in our efforts and good works for His greater glory, and may all of us continue to inspire everyone around us in faith. Amen.

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Monday, 13 January 2025 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 1 : 14-20

At that time, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee and began preaching the Good News of God. He said, “The time has come; the kingdom of God is at hand. Change your ways and believe the Good News.”

As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fish for people.” At once, they abandoned their nets and followed Him.

Jesus went a little farther on, and saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee; they were in their boat mending their nets. Immediately, Jesus called them and they followed Him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men.

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Monday, 13 January 2025 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 96 : 1 and 2b, 6 and 7c, 9

YHVH reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the distant islands be glad. Justice and right, are His throne.

The heavens proclaim His justice, all peoples see His glory. Let all spirits bow before Him.

For You are the Master of the universe, exalted far above all gods.

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Monday, 13 January 2025 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hebrews 1 : 1-6

God has spoken in the past to our ancestors through the prophets, in many different ways, although never completely; but in our times He has spoken definitively to us through His Son. He is the one God appointed Heir of all things, since through Him He unfolded the stages of the world.

He is the Radiance of God’s Glory and bears the stamp of God’s hidden being, so that His powerful Word upholds the universe. And after taking away sin, He took His place at the right hand of the Divine Majesty in heaven. So He is now far superior to Angels just as the Name He received sets Him apart from them.

To what Angel did God say : You are My Son, I have begotten You today? And to what Angel did He promise : I shall be a Father to Him and He will be a Son to Me? On sending His Firstborn to the world, God says : “Let all the Angels adore Him.”

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Saturday, 13 January 2024 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today in our Scripture readings all of us as Christians are reminded that God loves each and every one of us, and He gives His blessings unto us, consecrating us all to the truth, bringing us ever closer to His grace and love. Through Him, all of us have received the most graceful and generous bounty of forgiveness for our many sins, as well as the redemption of our souls, the promise of everlasting life, true and most wonderful happiness in each and every one of our lives, and in the world that is to come. We are all called to return to the Lord and to seek Him with faith, to love Him and follow Him at all times and all the days of our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Samuel, in which the Lord gave His people, the Israelites, their first king, Saul, through the help of His prophet Samuel, who was also the Judge and leader over all of Israel. The context was that, the people were demanding that they have a king to rule over them just like that of their neighbours and other states around them, and not under the authority and rule of the Judges. At that time, the Judges were the leaders of the people, and guided them all through the Law and commandments of God. The people insisted that they must have a king to rule them, and hence, God gave them what they asked for, choosing Saul of the tribe of Benjamin to be the first king to rule over Israel.

Saul was chosen from the smallest tribe among the Israelites, and from among the smallest clan in the tribe of Benjamin. He was just an ordinary man whom God called to be the leader over His people, fulfilling what the people requested of Him. But God did not choose by worldly standards, prestige or power, and instead, called those whom He deemed to be worthy, and helped and guided them to be truly worthy and capable in doing what they had all been entrusted to do. God empowered and guided Saul to be the worthy leader over all of his beloved people. Saul was called to follow the Lord and to put himself in the service of God, in doing whatever was necessary to lead and guide God’s people to their one true Lord and King. This was what God had entrusted to Saul to do, by making him as the king over all of His people.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus came by the place of Levi, the tax collector and called him to follow Him. Levi listened to the Lord’s call, left everything he had behind, his job and works, his office and all, and followed the Lord. Not only that but he also brought the Lord to his fellow tax collectors, and the Lord had dinner with all of them, as many among them wanted to listen to Him, His teachings and follow Him as well. This earned the Lord the derision, disapproval and criticism from the Pharisees who thought that the Lord should not have spent time to mingle and even have dinner with those tax collectors, who were widely despised and hated, treated as sinners and people who were unworthy of God and His grace.

The tax collectors were treated badly because the people widely considered them as traitors to their nation and cause, as they likely collected the taxes on behalf of the Romans, and other rulers like King Herod, who were also equally disliked and despised. Hence, that was why they were hated and treated unfairly by those people, especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, the elders and the chief priests, who looked and thought highly of themselves, considering themselves superior than any other people. But the Lord immediately rebuked those Pharisees, who were being selfish and immersed in their self-righteous attitude, thinking that they could not be wrong, and that they were better than anyone else. The Lord told them that it was precisely because of the presence of those sinners that He had come, to reach out to them and to bring them all back to Him.

In fact, because Levi and his fellow tax collectors were open-minded and willing to listen to the Lord’s call, they were all closer to the salvation and grace of God than that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law themselves, who were blinded by their hypocrisy and blind insistence on obedience to the Law, that they could not see or realise that they themselves were sinners too, in need of forgiveness and mercy of God. Everyone has been called by God to follow Him, like Saul, Levi and many others, even those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law themselves, but not all of them were willing to follow Him wholeheartedly. For many different reasons, people throughout time and history have diverged away from the Lord because they trusted more in their own machinations and power rather than in God.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of a great servant and man of God, whose life and dedication to God, as well as his commitment to the flock of the faithful entrusted to him, can inspire many of us in how we all should be living up to our Christian faith and calling in life. St. Hilary, also known as St. Hilary of Poitiers, was a renowned Church father and the early Bishop of Poitiers. St. Hilary of Poitiers was born into a pagan family, and later on was baptised with his family, and was a very upright, pious and outstanding person. This was why the people of Poitiers unanimously elected him to be their bishop and shepherd, and as bishop, St. Hilary devoted himself tirelessly to work for the benefit of all the faithful people of God, working against all the heresies that were then rampant and threatening many of them.

St. Hilary committed himself to oppose all the corrupt teachings and false ways of the heretics, and through all of his contributions and works, writings and more, he was so well-known and respected that he was known by the epithet of ‘Hammer of the Arians’, referring to the widespread heresy of Arianism that was then deeply entrenched throughout many parts of Christendom. St. Hilary of Poitiers spent a lot of time in helping and guiding his flock, and he had to face even exile and sufferings for years for his opposition against the dangerous heresies threatening the people of God. After he returned back to his diocese, he would continue to do God’s will and works, leading the flock of the faithful back towards Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard in our Scripture passages today, and as we have reflected upon them and the life and works of St. Hilary of Poitiers, great man and servant of God, let us all therefore reflect upon our respective calling and vocations in life as Christians. Each and every one of us have been entrusted and given the responsibilities and missions to do what God had called us to do, and we should commit ourselves to follow Him in all the things that He has shown us. Let us all be filled with faith and strength, with the courage and the hope that we all should do our best to love and serve the Lord, at all times. May God bless us always, in our every good efforts and endeavours. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 January 2024 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Mark 2 : 13-17

At that time, when Jesus went out again, beside the lake, a crowd came to Him, and He taught them. As He walked along, He saw a tax collector sitting in his office. This was Levi, the son of Alpheus. Jesus said to him, “Follow Me!” And Levi got up and followed Him.

And it so happened that, when Jesus was eating in Levi’s house, tax collectors and sinners sat with Him and His disciples; there were a lot of them, and they used to follow Jesus. But Pharisees, men educated in the Law, when they saw Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, “Why does your Master eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus heard them, and answered, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

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Saturday, 13 January 2024 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 20 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7

The king rejoices in Your strength, o YHVH, and exults in Your saving help. You have granted him his desire; You have not rejected his request.

You have come to him with rich blessings; You have placed a golden crown upon his head. When he asked, You gave him life – length of days forever and ever.

He glories in the victory You gave him; You shall bestow on him splendour and majesty. You have given him eternal blessings, and gladdened him with the joy of Your presence.

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Saturday, 13 January 2024 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

1 Samuel 9 : 1-4, 17-19 and 1 Samuel 10 : 1a

There was a man from the tribe of Benjamin whose name was Kish. He was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a valiant Benjaminite. Kish had a son named Saul, a handsome young man who had no equal among the Israelites, for he was a head taller than any of them.

It happened that the asses of Kish were lost. So he said to his son Saul, “Take one of the boys with you and go look for the asses.” They went all over the hill country of Ephraim and the land of Shalishah but did not find them. They passed through the land of Shaalim and the land of Benjamin, but the asses were nowhere to be found.

So, when Samuel saw Saul, YHVH told him, “Here is the man I spoke to you about! He shall rule over My people.” Saul approached Samuel in the gateway and said, “Tell me, where is the house of the seer?” Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me. In the morning, before you leave, I will tell you all that is in your heart.”

Then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on Saul’s head.

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Friday, 13 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the faith that we have in God, the faith that we have in His providence and might, in His truth and love, and then what each one of us should do in proclaiming that same truth and faith amongst all the people we encounter in our various respective communities. All of us have the need to believe in God and His truth, and to listen to Him and His words, and do not harden our hearts and minds against Him unlike what many of our predecessors had done in the past, which were highlighted by our Scripture passages today.

In our first reading today, as we heard from the Epistle of the Hebrews, the author of this Epistle who directed his writings to the Jewish Christian converts and also to the greater Jewish community, wanted to get them all to heed the Lord’s words and call to them to conversion, and to embrace the truth that God Himself had brought into this world, all through the person of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Saviour of all. The author was making references to the past transgressions, disobedience and stubbornness of the people of God in the past, who constantly rebelled against the Lord and refused to believe in Him and His prophets, even after repeated reminders and messages calling on them to turn away from their sins.

The author of the Epistle also likely referred to the attitudes of some among the Jewish community who had consistently and constantly resisted the Lord, His truth and His works, just as one of those examples being highlighted in our Gospel passage today. Essentially, many of the Jewish elders and influential members of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council refused to believe in the Lord Jesus, and frowned or even outrightly opposed His actions and works, all because they saw Him as a Rival and even a threat to their own influence and power, and in their pride and ego, they continued to close their hearts up against God and His truth, even when His Wisdom and His miraculous deeds had been shown before their very own eyes in multiple occasions.

Such as what happened in our Gospel passage today, where we heard the account of the Lord Jesus healing a paralytic man brought unto His midst through the roof because the room where He was teaching in was so packed with people. The Lord willed to heal the paralysed man, and told Him that His sins had also been forgiven. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who happened to be present there in that occasion immediately took offence at the Lord’s proclamation, and said imperiously that only God could forgive sins, and that what the Lord had done was no less than a blasphemy against God. Yet, they failed to realise first of all that Christ Himself is the One Whom God had promised to be the Saviour of all mankind, and to Him would indeed be granted the authority over all things, even over that of sins.

Through Christ, Whose actions, works, miracles and wonders had shown the proof of His glorious coming, the truth about Himself and Who He really was, God wants to reveal to us the depth of His most amazing and wonderful love, which persists despite our most terrible and wicked rebellion against Him. Through Christ, God has willingly gathered all of us from the distant corners and edges of the world, leading us back to the grace of God and healing us all from our sickness that is sin, just as He had healed the paralytic man his condition. It is He alone Who can indeed rescue us from the tyranny of sin and death, lifting us up from the darkness that surrounded us and bringing us into His eternal light and grace. And yet, there are still many indeed who refused to believe in His love and kindness, despite having witnessed and heard about them.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because of the excess of human pride, ego and greed, all of which had become great obstacles in our journey back towards God. The pride and ego of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and many of the members of the Sanhedrin had become serious obstacles in the path of their drive towards salvation in God. Those people thought that they were better and superior to others all around them, and would not take the truth of the Lord as the reality that they needed to embrace. Instead, they continued to depend on the flawed and mistaken ideas they upheld, thinking that the messages and words that the Lord Jesus brought into their midst were false and even blasphemous in nature.

Today all of us are reminded not to follow this same path, and instead to follow the Lord wholeheartedly once again, not be swayed by the temptations of worldly power, fame, pride, glory and many other things that had often dragged so many of our predecessors into the path of sin and darkness. We are reminded that we have to be humble in accepting that our ways and thoughts can often be mistaken and flawed, and in God alone we can find the truth and Wisdom which will liberate us from the falsehoods of evil and sin. That is why we are called to reflect upon those passages of the Scriptures and whatever we have just reflected upon earlier so that we may not end up falling into the wrong path of disobedience, stubbornness and rebellion against God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us ought to look upon the good examples and inspirations set by St. Hilary, one of the great Church fathers, also known as St. Hilary of Poitiers, whose love and devotion to God, zeal and faith by which he had lived his life and ministry, can be great source of inspiration for all of us in how we live our own Christian living and faith. St. Hilary of Poitiers was the Bishop of Poitiers who was renowned for his great dedication to his flock and for his opposition to the heretics and all those who had perverted and misused the truth of God for their own selfish purposes. He was particularly energetic and passionate in opposing the then greatly influential Arian beliefs that distorted the truth about Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of all.

St. Hilary spent a lot of time and effort in reaching out to his flock and opposing those who sought to divide the Church and snatch the faithful from the hands of the Lord’s shepherds, having to endure persecutions and even exile for his courageous struggles for the truth, for the Lord and for the Lord’s beloved flock. He wrote extensively on many aspects of the faith, against the heretical teachings and ideas, which eventually made him proclaimed as one of the great Doctors of the Church for his immense contributions, long after he has passed on from this world. The faith and dedication which St. Hilary has shown us should serve as a good example for us to follow, so that each and every one of us may also follow him in his devotion and efforts in serving and glorifying God, in our own respective lives and actions.

May the Lord continue to guide us through our own journey in life, so that we may draw ever closer to Him, and such that we may ever always be more faithful to Him, and be ever more humble in accepting and receiving Him into our hearts and minds, and being stubborn and hardened in hearts no more. May all of us continue to walk down the path of righteousness and truth, and continue to persevere in faith regardless of the challenges and trials we may have to face for the Lord’s sake. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 13 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Mark 2 : 1-12

At that time, after some days, Jesus returned to Capernaum. As the news spread that He was in the house, so many people gathered, that there was no longer room even outside the door. While Jesus was preaching the Word to them, some people brought a paralysed man to Him.

The four men who carried him could not get near Jesus because of the crowd, so they opened the roof above the room where Jesus was and, through the hole, lowered the man on his mat. When Jesus saw the faith of these people, He said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now some teachers of the Law, who were sitting there, wondered within themselves, “How can He speak like this, insulting God? Who can forgive sins except God?”

At once Jesus knew in His Spirit what they were thinking, and asked, “Why do you wonder? Is it easier to say to this paralysed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Rise, take up your mat and walk?’ But now you shall know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

And He said to the paralytic, “Stand up, take up your mat and go home.” The man rose and, in the sight of all those people, he took up his mat and went out. All of them were astonished and praised God, saying, “Never have we seen anything like this!”