Today is the feast of St. Hilary of Poitiers, the Western Church’s great champion of orthodoxy during the Arian crisis. He is sometimes called the “Athanasius of the West.” Famous for his treatise On the Trinity, Hilary also wrote an account of the various synods and councils of his time. Like St. Ambrose, he learned a practical lesson from the Arians: that doctrine travels rapidly when it’s hitched to good music. So Hilary wrote hymns. His Pentecost hymn, Rejoice! The Year Upon Its Way survives, in translation, in many modern hymnals. If you get to Mass today (or even if you don’t), ponder Hilary’s relection on the Eucharist:

The words we use to speak of divine things must be used in no mere human and worldly sense. Nor must the perversity of a strange and impious interpretation be extorted from the soundness of heavenly words by any violent and headstrong preaching. Let us read what is written. Let us understand what we read, and let us fulfill the demands of a perfect faith.

How should we speak of the reality of Christ’s nature within us? Unless we have been taught by Him, our words are foolish and impious. For He Himself says, “My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (Jn 6:55-56).

As to the reality of the flesh and blood there is no room left for doubt. For the Lord Himself declares, and so does our faith, that it is truly flesh and truly blood. And when these are eaten and drunk, they bring about that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Is this not true? Yet those who affirm that Jesus Christ is not truly God are welcome to find it false. He Himself, therefore, is in us through the flesh and we in Him, while together with Him our own selves are in God.

Hilary’s name in Latin is Hilarius, and it means joyful. It is the root of the English “hilarious” and “hilarity.” So be of good cheer on this, his feast.