Today, we lift our souls in adoration to the One who is the source of all wisdom. Indeed, we wish to express our gratitude for the wise man He has inspired to mature our faith. We celebrate one such beacon from antiquity: Saint Hilary of Poitiers, bishop, known as the "Athanasius of the West." As the hymn "Aeterne Sol" proclaims, "this blessed man, another in the choir of Doctors, is distinguished by his clarity of doctrine."

Saint Hilary is noted for his defense and affirmation of the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, staunchly opposing the Arians who denied this truth of faith. This matter is fundamental because if Christ is not God, then what benefit is His sacrifice on the Cross to us? If He is not God, what do we receive in the Eucharist? If He is not God, who guarantees the resurrection for me? In the end, if Jesus is not God — fully and truly — then our faith is in vain, and we remain in our sins, as Saint Paul would say (cf. 1 Cor 15:17).

The issue was not simple during those times of theological Trinitarian controversy. Certainly, the apostolic generation forever internalized the Lord's apostolic mandate to go into the entire world, baptizing people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (cf. Mt 28:19). However, it was quite another matter to delve into — without diluting — the mystery of the Holy Trinity, to formulate it as we recite on feast days (Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed).

Saint Hilary is a refined forerunner of our Creed: "Thee, O God Eternal, Father of the Eternal and Only-begotten God, Who alone art without birth, and of the One Lord Jesus Christ, born of Thee from everlasting. We may not sever Him from Thee, or make Him one of a plurality of Gods, on any plea of difference of nature. We may not say that He is not begotten of Thee, because Thou art One. We must not fail to confess Him as true God, seeing that He is born of Thee, true God, His Father" (from the "Treatise on the Trinity").