Official Website of the
Catholic Diocese of Little Rock
Bishop Taylor Homily Library
Bishop Anthony B. Taylor celebrates Mass across Arkansas and beyond. This library features the homilies delivered from March 2014 to the present. To listen to earlier homilies, please visit the bishop's Homily Archive.
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Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph 2023 Published: Sunday, December 31, 2023 We see Mary's courage in riding a very uncomfortable donkey to Bethlehem while nine months pregnant and Joseph's patient, futile attempt to find lodging, and finally their faith-filled, humble acceptance of an unsanitary barn in which to give birth to their child. |
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Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) 2023 Published: Sunday, December 24, 2023 Today I proclaim to you a message of hope: We have that Savior — he is Jesus, whose very name means God saves. He was born on Christmas. Welcome him into your heart. The darkness will dissipate, and his light will grow in you and fill you with hope, meaning and purpose the more you conform your life to his. |
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Fourth Sunday of Advent 2023 Published: Sunday, December 24, 2023 The Son of God stripped himself of the privileges of his divinity in order to embrace our damaged human condition because that sacrifice was necessary for him to accomplish his great work of redemption, a work that he completed 33 years later when he sealed with his own blood the New and definitive Covenant with all of humanity. |
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Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe 2023 Published: Tuesday, December 12, 2023 May the Lord deepen our faith and commitment, so that like Mary and Juan Diego, our faith may also bear lasting fruit worthy of the Lord. |
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Second Sunday of Advent 2023 Published: Sunday, December 10, 2023 Jesus is at the door and is knocking. Listen to his voice, grab that knob and open the door, receive him into your heart now, and thus also on Christmas and for always, until his second coming on the last day. |
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Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception 2023 Published: Friday, December 8, 2023 But for that salvation to become ours, to make a difference in our life and in the lives of others, we have to open our hearts like Mary and Joseph did, even though they really didn’t know where it was all going to lead. They said in effect: "Yes Lord, whatever you want, I will do." |
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Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle, 2023 Published: Thursday, November 30, 2023 Our first priority has got to be a living relationship with God through Jesus, who is by far the most important person in our life: listening to him and obeying him. Our second priority is all those obligations that are directly connected with fulfilling God's personal call in our life: my priesthood, your marriage and your children, but God still comes first. |
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Decommissioning of Old St. Thomas Aquinas Church Building, Fayetteville Published: Tuesday, November 28, 2023 The chief priests and elders — the respectable people of his day — say all the right words, give God lip service, but are unable to accept the fact that God is doing something unexpected and new. |
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Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe 2023 Published: Sunday, November 26, 2023 A king is a powerful man who can get what he wants by pushing people around. But this strange king works exclusively through volunteers. In a world that relies on coercion, he depends on persuasion. That’s the only way he works. |
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Feast of St. Teresa of Avila 2023 Published: Sunday, October 15, 2023 By the time of her death, (St. Teresa of Avila) had founded 32 monasteries. She has been declared a doctor of the Church, the first woman ever to be so honored. Teresa was an excellent scholar and writer. Her works on mystical theology continue to be classics. Her autobiography is frank and inspiring, and from a literary point of view, is a classic of Spanish literature. |
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28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, October 15, 2023 That white garment with which we were dressed on the day of our baptism is the wedding garment of the Kingdom of God, whereby we put on Christ, and this obligates us now to live lives consistent with the values of the Kingdom of God. |
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Friday, 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle I 2023 Published: Friday, October 13, 2023 As Christians we are called to be witnesses for the truth and to stand up for what is right, even when this is unpopular or inconvenient. Even when we don’t particularly like the person or group that we are defending. |
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27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, October 8, 2023 To do God's will we have to die to ourselves. And that can be a source of great anxiety unless our lives are rooted solidly in a living, life-giving relationship with Jesus. |
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Red Mass 2023 Published: Friday, October 6, 2023 Genuine holiness is one of the greatest needs of our time. If we long to live a life founded solidly on the Word of God as intensely as a starving person longs to eat, Jesus promises us that our desire will be fulfilled. He also reminds us that it will include embracing the cross. |
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45th Anniversary of Little Portion Hermitage Published: Wednesday, October 4, 2023 Today I look around this room and see a whole community of people who are committed to following Jesus with all your heart and soul — some in the monastic expression of this spirituality and some in the domestic expression out in the world, and for this I commend you. |
