Homily – St. Augustine

Yesterday we honoured St. Monica, the mother who prayed without ceasing.
Today we honour her son: St. Augustine—the restless seeker who became one of the greatest bishops, saints, and doctors of the Church.

Yesterday was about tears; today is about conversion. Yesterday was about prayer; today is about God’s answer.

The readings fit Augustine perfectly: Paul’s joy over faith, the psalm’s reminder of our fragility, and Jesus’ warning to stay awake and live wisely.

St. Paul writes: “We now live, if you stand firm in the Lord. Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face… And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love.”

Paul’s joy is the joy of seeing faith take root. Augustine is the living embodiment of this. For years he resisted the Gospel. He sought truth in philosophy, in pleasure, in ambition. But when he finally surrendered to Christ, the joy was overflowing—not just for Monica, not just for Ambrose who baptized him, but for the whole Church.

Paul’s words could be Monica’s words on the day of her son’s baptism: “Now we live, because you stand firm in the Lord.”

The conversion of one sinner gives life to many hearts. Augustine’s conversion didn’t just save him—it renewed the faith of countless others.

The psalm says: “A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday, now that it is past.”

Augustine understood this. He knew the brevity of life. In his Confessions he prayed: “Late have I loved You, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new!”

He wasted years chasing shadows, and when he found God, he realised how short life is. That’s why he urged his people not to delay, not to play games with grace.

Time runs fast. Grace waits, but not forever.

Psalm 90 ends with a prayer: “Prosper the work of our hands, Lord.” Augustine’s hands once built worldly careers, but after his conversion, they built up the Church. From wasting his gifts, he became one of the most fruitful writers, bishops, and teachers in history.

Jesus says in the Gospel: “Stay awake, for you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” For Augustine, this was not theory—it was his lived reality. He knew what it meant to be spiritually asleep. He wasted years in sleepwalking sin. Then Christ woke him up.

Augustine preached this vigilance constantly to his flock in Hippo. He told them: Don’t be like the servant who says, “My master is delayed.” Don’t use the delay as an excuse for sin. Christ is coming. Stay awake. Be faithful.

Complacency kills the soul. Vigilance saves it.

So what do we learn from Augustine today?

• Conversion is possible for anyone. If God can turn a restless sinner into a saint and Doctor of the Church, then no one is too far gone.
• Truth is a Person. Augustine searched everywhere, but only in Christ did he find the answer: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
• The Christian life is vigilance. Conversion is not just once. It is daily. Augustine knew this. He fought temptations even as a bishop, reminding himself: “Lord, save me from myself.”

Remember:

• “Conversion doesn’t end at baptism; it begins.” — Augustine kept converting every day.
• “Delay is the devil’s trap.” — Don’t say, “Tomorrow I’ll change.” Augustine wasted years that way.
• “A restless heart is a ready heart.” — If you feel restless, don’t fill the void with the world; let it lead you to God.

St. Augustine’s life is a mirror for ours. He shows us the cost of wasted years, but also the power of grace when it finally breaks through.

Today, ask for his intercession:

• If you are restless, let his words remind you: your heart was made for God.
• If you are weary, let his conversion encourage you: no one is too far gone.
• If you are complacent, let his preaching shake you awake: Christ is coming—stay ready.

Yesterday, we saw the mother who prayed. Today, we see the son who was saved. Together they remind us: prayer works, grace wins, God never gives up.