Feast of St. Augustine of Hippo

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Sunday, 28 August 2016 : 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called to remember what God had said to us through His words in the Sacred Scriptures, beginning from our first reading which was taken from the Book of the prophet Sirach. What the prophet Sirach mentioned was the very important concept of our life which all of us should take on deep into ourselves and embrace with vigour and zeal.

The greater the power you have, the humbler you should become. And through humility and our faith, we shall be blessed and be glorified by God. For the Lord treasures not the power and might of the world, and neither did He value the wealth and the riches of this earth which we have obtained for ourselves. For all these things cannot last, and even fire, water and moth will be able to destroy them in a mere short moment.

And that is where this day’s wonderful Scripture passages are directing us to, that is to understand that while it is easy for us to succumb to our pride and our desire to have power, influence and authority, fame, glory and renown in this world, it is much more difficult to let all these go and resist the temptations of the flesh and of the pleasures and wonders of this world.

As Jesus mentioned in His parable today about the wedding guests in wedding parties and the position of honour, we have to reflect on our own lives and experiences. It is natural for us all to desire fame, position, honour, glory and all the other things which we mankind have craved and wanted, as ever since desire and greed entered into our hearts, we have been enslaved to those desires and greed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, ever since Adam and Eve our ancestors desired knowledge of good and evil, eating the fruits from the forbidden tree of knowledge, we have fallen into this trap set upon us by Satan, who was loathe to see us brought into joy and happiness with God while he himself, out of his pride, was cast out of heaven and cursed to remain forever in the darkness and despair of hell.

We always tend to seek for better places for ourselves, for better positions, for better incentives and to gather more of the things that bring pleasure to us. And it does not help that this world is doing exactly what encourages us to live through this hedonistic and materialistic lifestyle. From ages to ages, we have seen rich people, kings, nobles, lords and other people with privilege who desired for more of what they had, and this had led them into oppressing the poor and the weak, or to confront each other, desiring one another’s possessions.

Wars and conflicts had arisen because of people’s greed and insatiable desires. That is the reality of how things often work in this world. And mankind often would not have enough even if they had achieved or attained what they wanted. Sooner or later, they would crave for more and desire for more, unless they make the conscious effort in order to rein those desires and practice to resist the lures of worldly pleasures.

Perhaps, the great saint whose feast we celebrate today can help us to shed some light on what we can do, and indeed what we need to do, based on his own life experiences, in order for us to be able to find our way to reach out to the salvation in our God. He is St. Augustine of Hippo, also known as St. Augustine the Great, one of the Four Original Doctors of the Church, and an important pillar of Christendom.

St. Augustine however was not always as great or holy as he is now known to be. Many of his great works and writings reflect the greatness of his mind and intellect, as well as his great faith and devotion to the Lord. Yet, in his youth, which many were not aware of, he was a great sinner who lived in wickedness and debauchery, far from the reach of the Lord’s salvation and grace.

He was born into a rich and influential family, and his father was an important official and administrator in the government of the Roman Empire at that time, and he was also a pagan like his father was, though his mother, St. Monica, whose feast we have just celebrated yesterday, was a devout Christian. St. Augustine received the best of educations and privileges, enriched with learnings from the philosophers and intellectuals of the Greek and the Roman world.

And it was then that St. Augustine fell into a life of hedonism, materialism and desire. He fell into the lure of the Manichaean heretical teachings after having been influenced by his friends and peers, a wicked and confused teaching that was a mix and match of elements from different ways of thought and cultures that intermingled at the time.

For a while, the hedonistic and materialistic practices of Manichaeanism and his peers influences on him satisfied his needs, desires and wants. Being a philosopher that he was, he also craved for more knowledge and for more satisfaction in this world, and yet even after many years, he still felt that something in him was lacking and incomplete, and he went on to search for that longing to complete himself, and that was where and when he found the Lord.

His mother, St. Monica, had always hoped and tried fervently in order to bring him back to the Lord, to receive Him as his Lord and Saviour, and to turn away from all of his sinful ways. Despite him having disappointed her many times, as St. Augustine in his youth led a very debauched way of life, moving from one relationship to another, and even having a child out of marriage, she did not give up.

Eventually, St. Monica’s persistence and prayers, as well as St. Augustine’s own growing dissatisfaction with the Manichaean beliefs, his then lifestyle and work as a teacher of philosophy and rhetorics, and finally his meeting and interaction with another great saint and Doctor of the Church, St. Ambrose of Milan brought him to convert to the Faith.

It was in God that St. Augustine found his true fulfilment and satisfaction, all of which the world could not give. For God gives His people and His faithful ones the richness of His love, one that cannot be destroyed by fire, or by water or by any other earthly forces. And unlike banks and institutions we often place our money and possessions in, entrusting to these our living and our goods, which when they collapse and perish, our goods also perish with them, God is the only One Who is truly trustworthy.

From this lesson we learn of St. Augustine of Hippo, his life and experience, there are a few things that we can benefit and learn from even as we live our lives now in this world. First of all, while God is loving and forgiving, it is really up to us to make the difference in our lives. God calls all sinners and wicked people to return to Him, and yet, if we are the ones who refuse His offer of mercy, then there will be no way open for us to reach the salvation of God.

Secondly, it was told that in one occasion, God appeared to St. Augustine in a vision as he walked along a coastline as a young boy, who used a seashell to pour the seawater into a small hole he made on the beach. St. Augustine was then very fascinated at the Bible, as he was very much into reading the Scriptures after he converted to the Faith. He wanted to understand and comprehend the nature of God and His mysteries, and God appeared to him in that vision to clarify things with him.

St. Augustine asked the boy about why he was doing such a meaningless task, as such a feat of emptying the sea into that small hole was indeed an impossible thing to do. Then the small boy, God, told St. Augustine that what he was doing in trying to understand and comprehend the mysteries of God was equally meaningless and useless, as God was too great and far beyond our understanding to be understood by our simple minds.

This is a reminder for us that, no matter how great we are in this world, we are still nothing compared to God, and truly, we are nothing without God. We may boast all we like about what we have, about our power, wealth, fame, glory, family and many other things we are used to boasting for, but in the end, none of these will matter in the end.

This is precisely what the Lord told us about in His parable, that the first would be last, and the last would be first. That means, those who pride themselves in their worldly greatness, boasting their wealth, fame and glory would be last and considered last when the Lord comes to judge all the people. Why is this so? That is because, when we boast of ourselves, we close our hearts to others, including God. Rather, as St. Paul made it clear in his Epistle to the Corinthians, let all those who boast, boast of the Lord.

When we are so focused on ourselves, that is when we tend to ignore others who need our presence and our help. We become ignorant of those in need and therefore not only that we do not do as what our Lord wanted from us, but we also end up even causing pain and suffering, either intentionally or unintentionally and thus leading us into sin.

But third and last of all, the example of St. Augustine of Hippo also showed us that sin does not have the last say over us. Even he was a great sinner in his youth, and later on changed his life so profoundly and completely that probably no one would have recognised him in his later life, a great sinner turned to be a great saint. God did not hate us the sinners, but He does hate our sins.

Therefore, brethren, what are we waiting for? Are we waiting until it is too late for us to change our ways and be redeemed? Are we still too engrossed with ourselves, our deeds and our achievements in this world? Let us all take this opportunity to reflect and to think deeply about our actions and their impacts on ourselves and others around us. Have we been truly faithful to God? Have our actions been done in accordance with what God wanted from us?

May we be able to find our way to the Lord by deepening our relationship with Him, and may God also be our guide in this journey, that walking in the footsteps of St. Augustine of Hippo, we too may be turned from being creatures of sin and darkness, into the worthy and loving children of God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 28 August 2016 : 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green


Luke 14 : 1, 7-14

At that time, one Sabbath Jesus had gone to eat a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, and He was carefully watched.

Jesus then told a parable to the guests, for He had noticed how they tried to take the places of honour. And He said, “When you are invited to a wedding party, do not choose the best seat. It may happen that someone more important than you had been invited; and your host, who invited both of you, will come and say to you, ‘Please give this person your place.’ What shame is yours when you take the lowest seat!”

“Whenever you are invited, go rather to the lowest seat, so that your host may come and say to you, ‘Friend, you must come up higher.’ And this will be a great honour for you in the presence of all the other guests. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised.”

Jesus also addressed the man who had invited Him, and said, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends, or your brothers and relatives, or your wealthy neighbours. For surely they will also invite you in return, and you will be repaid. When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Fortunate are you then, because they cannot repay you; you will be repaid at the resurrection of the upright.”

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Sunday, 28 August 2016 : 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Hebrews 12 : 18-19, 22-24a

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses : nor heat of a blazing fire, darkness and gloom and storms, blasts of trumpets or such a voice that the people pleaded that no further word be spoken.

But you came near to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem with its innumerable Angels. You have come to the solemn feast, the assembly of the firstborn of God, whose names are written in heaven. There is God, Judge of all, with the spirits of the upright brought to perfection.

There is Jesus, the Mediator of the new Covenant.

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Sunday, 28 August 2016 : 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 67 : 4-5ac, 6-7ab, 10-11

But let the righteous be glad and exult before God; let them sing to God and shout for joy. Sing to God, sing praises to His Name; the Lord is His Name. Rejoice in His presence.

Father of orphans and protector of widows – such is our God in His holy dwelling. He gives shelter to the homeless, sets the prisoners free.

Then You gave a rain of blessings to comfort Your weary children. Your people found a dwelling and in Your mercy, o God, You provided for the needy.

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Sunday, 28 August 2016 : 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sirach 3 : 19-21, 30-31

The greater you are, the more you should humble yourself and thus you will find favour with God. For great is the power of the Lord and it is the humble who give Him glory. Do not seek what is beyond your powers nor search into what is beyond your ability.

As water extinguishes the burning flames, almsgiving obtains pardon for sins. The man who responds by doing good prepares for the future, at the moment of his downfall he will find support.

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Friday, 28 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we celebrate the feast of a great pillar of the Church, one of its original and among the greatest of the Doctors of the Church, because of his numerous and countless contributions to both the Church and to the faithful as a whole, in leading them to Christ. He is St. Augustine of Hippo, a great man and a great saint, and yet with an interesting origin and story of his life, in how he became such a great servant of God.

Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of St. Monica, his mother, a holy woman completely devoted to the Lord and to her family, particularly that of her son, St. Augustine himself. And we have to understand where they came from and what were their lives like, so that we can understand and benefit most from today’s sharing of the Scriptures and the lives of the saints.

St. Augustine of Hippo was born in a noble Roman family, between a rich Roman nobleman named Patricius who was a pagan worshipper, and St. Monica, his mother, who was already a Christian, and one who was truly devoted to the Lord. St. Augustine lived in a family well connected and in position to enjoy all the favours and benefits of worldly life, and therefore, he got the best education and treatment, and grew to be an educated person and a philosopher.

But all these could not satisfy St. Augustine, as he desired for something more to fill the emptiness in his heart. And so, influenced by his peers and friends at that time, he fell into the company of those who believed in the syncretic and pagan religion of Manichaeanism, where he gave in to the Manichaean ways and teachings of hedonism and worldliness, involving himself with various forms of the pleasures of the flesh.

Nonetheless, even though St. Augustine had started on a path towards sin and therefore towards ruination, it was the hard effort and ceaseless tears and prayers from his mother, St. Monica, who eventually turned St. Augustine back into the light. Firstly, his own father decided to be baptised on his deathbed and accepted fully the Lord Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, and then St. Augustine himself also realised the errors of his ways and repented.

St. Augustine went on to be a teacher, and growing more and more disillusioned with the ways and falsehoods of Manichaeanism, where he did not manage to find true satisfaction, he eventually gave himself to be baptised as well, as a member of the Church, and the prayers which his mother had made for his sake. And thereafter, St. Augustine dedicated himself to the service of God.

And by his many works, including the publications, the City of God and the Confessions which he had written, as well as various other discourses and traditions passed down to us by the other Church fathers, this once great sinner had indeed been transformed completely by the will and by the grace of God to be a great tool for the salvation of mankind and for the deliverance of mankind from our sins.

In today’s Scripture readings we also heard how Jesus told the people the parable of the five wise women and the five careless and foolish women. Many of us knew this story, but do we truly understand its significance? The wise women and the foolish women represent all of us, while the bridegroom represents the Lord who will come again even as He had promised all of us.

The examples of St. Augustine of Hippo should have shown us that all of us have a choice in this life, and this choice is for us to follow either the Lord and His ways, or whether we follow our own whims and our own heart’s desires. God always gives us opportunities, one after another, for He is loving as well as merciful, and despite all of our sins and wickedness, we still have the Lord on our side, holding us and keeping us against the tides of darkness rising against us.

Nevertheless, we should not take this for granted. The Lord loves all of us, for we are indeed the greatest and the most treasured and loved of all the things that God had created, but this does not mean that He just let us all be with all the things we are doing, or condoning all of our sins and wickedness. He continues to watch over us, and it is painful for Him to see how we continue to live in sin and in direct disobedience and rebellion against Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all learn from the examples of St. Augustine of Hippo and many other saints, who were once sinners and then they turned their lives around, and sought out a new life in God. This is also an inspiration for all of us to do the same. No one was born perfect, and no one was blameless, except for our Lord Jesus Himself. All of us made mistakes in some parts of our lives, but what matters, is whether we take those mistakes to task and learn from them.

May Almighty God be our help and our guide, as we walk in the footsteps of St. Augustine of Hippo, that we may also be like him and many other great saints, who took the step to get out of their past sinfulness, repent from those sins, and follow the Lord in all their ways, and by their righteousness, they were brought into eternal glory and life promised by our Lord. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 28 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 25 : 1-13

At that time, Jesus said to the people and to His disciples, “This story throws light on what will happen in the kingdom of heaven : Ten bridesmaids went out with their lamps to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were careless, and the others were sensible.”

“The careless bridesmaids took their lamps as they were, and did not bring extra oil. But those who were sensible, brought with their lamps flasks of oil. As the bridegroom delayed, they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight, a cry rang out, ‘The bridegroom is here, come out and meet him!'”

“All the maidens woke up at once, and trimmed their lamps. Then the careless ones said to the sensible ones, ‘Give us some oil, for our lamps are going out.’ The sensible ones answered, ‘There may not be enough for us and for you. You had better go to those who sell, and buy some for yourselves.'”

“They were out buying oil when the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him to the wedding feast, and the doors were shut. Later the other bridesmaids arrived and called out, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered, ‘Truly I do not know you.”

“So stay awake, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”

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Friday, 28 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 96 : 1 and 2b, 5-6, 10, 11-12

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

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim His justice, all peoples see His glory.

You who love the Lord, hate evil, for He preserves the lives of His faithful, He delivers them from their foes.

He sheds light upon the upright, and gladness upon the just. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are blameless, and give praise to His holy Name.

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Friday, 28 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Thessalonians 4 : 1-8

For the rest, brothers, we ask you in the Name of Jesus, the Lord, and we urge you to live in a way that pleases God, just as you have learnt from us. This you do, but try to do still more. You know the instructions we gave you on behalf of the Lord Jesus : the will of God for you is to become holy and not to have unlawful sex.

Let each of you behave towards his wife as a holy and respectful husband, rather than being led by lust, as are pagans who do not know God. In this matter, let no one offend or wrong a brother. The Lord will do justice in all these things, as we have warned and shown you. God have called us to live, not in impurity but in holiness, and those who do not heed this instruction disobey, not a human, but God Himself who gives you His Holy Spirit.