Planting the Seedlings of Great Faith
by Paulist Fr. Rich Andre
May 28, 2018

Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on Trinity Sunday (Year B) on May 27, 2018, at St. Austin Parish in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40; Psalm 33; Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28:16-20.



There’s a lot to celebrate today. It’s our patronal feast, the Feast of St. Austin, better known as St. Augustine of Canterbury. It’s Memorial Day weekend. We have a baptism at this Mass. And it’s Trinity Sunday!

Our understanding of the Most Holy Trinity is so essential to our identity as Christians. There’s a real danger for us to think of the Trinity in merely intellectual terms. Today is a day to challenge ourselves to have a more intimate relationship with each person within the Holy Trinity. Our first reading is about the Father, the second reading is about the Holy Spirit, and the gospel is about the Son. How do these readings challenge us to conceive of the three persons of God in new and relatable ways?

God so loved us that God created this world. God is so personable that God walks beside us. God is so close to us that God dwells inside of us. Let us take a moment to celebrate this great gift!


In Matthew’s gospel, the resurrected Jesus only gives his disciples these three sentences of instructions that we’ve just heard. We often call it “the Great Commission.” Today, we can think of it as the mission statement of the Church.

When Church historians talk about the greatest popes of all time, the guy most often at the top of the list is St. Gregory the Great, who was pope at the turning of the 6th century into the 7th. He was a spiritual leader, a prodigious writer, a skilled administrator, and a political unifier. However, he is best remembered for challenging the Church to live out the Great Commission, by leading the first great outreach effort in Church history.

At the end of the fourth century, the Christianized Roman Empire stretched all the way to the British Isles. But in the early fifth century, the western empire collapsed. By the end of the 6th century, England was once again considered pagan territory. The few Christians remaining there had little communication with Rome. There had been a few small attempts to send missionaries to England in the previous centuries, but Gregory was determined to lead a more substantial effort.

To lead this mission, Gregory turned to someone he knew from his days before becoming pope: a fellow Benedictine monk named Augustine, sometimes called “Austin.” Austin began the journey to England, leading a group of roughly 40 missionaries fearful that they would die brutal deaths at the hands of the Saxons. The group was so scared that they stopped in modern-day France, sending Austin back to Rome, to beg Gregory to release them from this mission. Like most stories in history, we can find other accounts that explain other reasons why they hesitated. (For example, perhaps they were expecting the assistance of Christian King Childebert II in northern France, who died while the band was en route to his realm.)

Whatever the missionaries’ reason for hesitation, Gregory ordered them to go forward, and Austin and his band encountered great fortune. They headed to Kent, where they knew the pagan King Aethelberht allowed his wife, Queen Bertha, to practice her Christian faith. The King allowed the monks to preach wherever they liked, although he would not allow forced conversions. The missionaries chose to live among the people, respecting their customs, and they quickly impressed people to come into the faith. In that first year, 597, Austin and his companions baptized more than ten thousand people, include King Aethelberht himself. Austin became the first archbishop of Canterbury, and by the time he died eight short years later in 605, England was well on its way to becoming a Christian stronghold once again.

Remarkably, there’s a lot in this story that ties into today’s readings. Moses entreats the Israelites to remember that the Father has placed them in the midst of another nation. Paul says that those who receive the Spirit of God are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, not falling back into fear. Jesus assures the apostles that he had been given all authority, and that he will be with them until the end of the age. Austin’s band of missionaries, though at first fearful, was placed in the midst of another nation. Jesus was clearly with them, and many of the people in England came to see themselves as led by the Spirit of God and fellow heirs of God.

Saints are not superhumans. They are simply friends of God and friends of people. I like to think of St. Austin in northern France, fearful of crossing the English Channel. What was his prayer like at that time? I’m sure it was intense. I’m sure that it was personal. I’m sure he didn’t know what to do… but he found a way forward.

You might notice that our traditional icon of St. Austin (in the side chapel) and our church and school logo include an oak leaf and an acorn. Why is that? Legend says that when Austin first met King Aethelberht and Queen Bertha, they met under a large oak tree. Oak trees are a symbol of hospitality. Acorns represent new life.

And what great symbols to consider as we prepare for baptizing children into the faith in the name of the Most Holy Trinity! St. Austin’s fellow missionaries were known for their hospitality, not imposing the faith on the English peoples by force, but sharing the faith through befriending the people as they were. Today, we like to think of St. Austin Parish as a place of hospitality, a place where all people are welcome, to come know about and live out the Christian faith as they are ready to do so. By having your child baptized here, we don’t expect you to be any more confident about what you’re doing than St. Austin and his fellow missionaries were in northern France. As you have pledged to raise this child as a member of the Body of Christ, we have pledged to assist you. St. Austin’s is a place of new life, and we each have a responsibility to nurture the seedling of faith that the Holy Spirit has implanted into this child’s heart.