May 02 – Homily: St. Athanasius, Victor in Faith that Conquers the World
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St. Athanasius stood "against the world" to defend the divinity of Christ against the Arian heresy. The saving faith rests on that most fundamental doctrine on Christ--that Jesus Christ is divinity incarnate in human flesh, true God and true Man. As St. John said in the first reading: "The victory that conquers the world is our faith. Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 Jn 5:4-5).
As C. S. Lewis commented about St. Athanasius: "He stood for the Trinitarian doctrine, ‘whole and undefiled,’ when it looked as if all the civilized world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius – into one of those ‘sensible’ synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended today and which, then as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. It is his glory that he did not move with the times…"
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Athanasius - Mem
Readings:
1st: 1 Jn 5:1-5
Resp: Ps 37:3-4,5-6,30-31
Gsp: Mt 10:22-25
