In today’s Gospel, Jesus continues His travels, astounding the people with His power and authority. Even unclean spirits respond to His orders, and the people are amazed. When we read these stories, it can be hard to imagine why anyone doubted for a moment who Jesus was and what His arrival meant. But doubt they did, and mankind has continued to doubt ever since.
Many times since Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, the Church He founded has strived to hold the rudder toward true north. Storms of misunderstandings, disagreements, and disputes have been part of the Church since her beginning, but through it all she moves forward.
One of those storms was raging during the life of the saint we celebrate today. A convert who discovered Jesus through Scripture, Saint Hilary lived in the fourth century during the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. When Hilary refused to condemn Saint Athanasius who had spoken out against the heresy, he was exiled. Rather than bowing to his persecution, he used his time in exile to study and to write, and he became an even more powerful defender of Christ’s divinity. He also composed hymns to spread the faith more broadly yet.
According to Saint Hilary, the heretics of his time had lost sight of their true identity. “They didn’t know who they were,” he said. His mission was to remind them, and to remind us, of exactly who we are. We are children of a loving God who have inherited eternal life through belief in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the same Jesus Christ who worked his wonders that day in Capernaum.
There is a worldly misconception that living a life of faith means avoiding the storms of life. On the contrary, as Saint Hilary and so many other powerful witnesses have shown us, true discipleship walks us into the storm, not away from it. But a life of faith, rooted in a confident understanding of exactly who we are, offers calm amid the storm. It grants us a sense of purpose and hope we will be carried safely to the other side.
En el Evangelio de hoy, Jesús continúa sus viajes, asombrando a la gente con su poder y autoridad. Incluso los espíritus inmundos responden a sus órdenes, y la gente queda maravillada. Al leer estas historias, puede ser difícil imaginar cómo alguien pudiera dudar por un instante de quién era Jesús y qué significaba su llegada. Pero dudaron, y la humanidad ha seguido dudando desde ese entonces.
Muchas veces, desde la vida, muerte y resurrección de Jesús, la Iglesia que él fundó se ha esforzado por mantener el rumbo recto. Tormentas de malentendidos, desacuerdos y disputas han formado parte de la Iglesia desde sus inicios, pero a pesar de todo, sigue adelante.
Una de esas tormentas azotó la vida del santo que celebramos hoy. San Hilario, un converso que descubrió a Jesús a través de las Escrituras, vivió en el siglo IV durante la herejía arriana, que negaba la divinidad de Jesucristo. Cuando Hilario se negó a condenar a San Atanasio, quien se había pronunciado en contra de la herejía, fue exiliado. En lugar de ceder ante la persecución, dedicó su tiempo en el exilio a estudiar y escribir, convirtiéndose en un defensor aún más enérgico de la divinidad de Cristo. También compuso himnos para difundir la fe aún más ampliamente.
Según san Hilario, los herejes de su tiempo habían perdido de vista su verdadera identidad. “No sabían quiénes eran”, dijo. Su misión era recordarles, y recordarnos a nosotros, quiénes somos. Somos hijos de un Dios amoroso que hemos heredado la vida eterna mediante la fe en Jesucristo, el Hijo de Dios, el mismo Jesucristo que obró sus maravillas aquel día en Cafarnaúm.
Existe la idea errónea global de que vivir una vida de fe significa evitar las tormentas de la vida. Por el contrario, como nos han demostrado san Hilario y tantos otros testigos influyentes, el verdadero discipulado nos lleva hacia la tormenta, no lejos de ella. Pero una vida de fe, arraigada en una comprensión segura de quiénes somos, ofrece calma en medio de la tormenta. Nos otorga un sentido de propósito y la esperanza de que seremos llevados sanos y salvos al otro lado.
Pamela Kavanaugh is a grateful wife, mother, and grandmother who has dedicated her professional life to Catholic education. Though she has done her very best to teach her students well in the subjects of language and religion, she knows that she has learned more than she has taught. She lives, teaches, and writes in southwest suburban Chicago.
Feature Image Credit: Brett Jordan, pexels.com/photo/brown-wooden-scrabble-tiles-on-white-table-7416851/
The views and opinions expressed in the Inspiration Daily blog are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Diocesan, the Diocesan staff, or other contributors to this blog.
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