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.
|
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C 2022 Published: Sunday, September 25, 2022 Nowhere does Jesus say that Lazarus was a sympathetic character. All we know is that he was very needy and there was a wall between him and the rich man. The wall of blindness. The rich man no longer even noticed the poor man on the sidewalk just outside his gate. |
|
Eucharistic Revival Message: Adoration and Mercy for Sinners Published: Sunday, September 11, 2022 I would like to suggest that eucharistic adoration is for everyone, including our teenagers and indeed this is part of the vocations story of several of our seminarians. I believe that most of our parishes should be able to offer eucharistic adoration on an expanded basis, especially throughout this time of eucharistic revival. |
|
First Profession of Sister Josefina Rose of Jesus Published: Saturday, September 10, 2022 Sister Josefina Rose, you stand before us today eager to commit yourself to a life of sacrificial love, to the death. In offering Jesus your sexuality by promising chastity, you sacrifice many good things, not only sexual pleasure and physical closeness to a husband, but also having children, having a family of your own. |
|
St. Teresa of Calcutta Anniversary Mass 2022 Published: Monday, September 5, 2022 St. Teresa of Calcutta was profoundly pro-life throughout the entire span of life, all the way to natural death. She treated each person with the inherent dignity they deserved as children of God. It didn’t matter how repulsive they were, nor whether they were what we would call good people. |
|
Wednesday, 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle II 2022 Published: Wednesday, August 31, 2022 Today we are gathered to dedicate a new high school for your parish. I hope all of you recognize what a remarkable achievement this is for your parish. There are only two parishes in the whole state that have a parish high school, you and Morrilton, and that is only possible because of your sacrifices and the sacrifices of those who came before us. |
|
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C 2022 Published: Sunday, August 7, 2022 God wants us to be happy and while respecting our free will, he uses every means at his disposal to induce us to choose those good behaviors that lead to happiness. God wants to protect us from spiritual danger and so he gives us the Ten Commandments and other teachings regarding evils that we must avoid. |
|
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord 2022 Published: Saturday, August 6, 2022 You will not be able to be faithful to your promise of celibacy without embracing a cross. You will not be able to be faithful to your promise of obedience without embracing a cross. You will not be able to protect the flock entrusted to your care without embracing a cross. As the Jews say: “The rabbi whom everyone likes is no rabbi.” If you bear your cross with love, one day you will receive a crown, but otherwise, not. |
|
Friday, 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle II 2022 Published: Friday, August 5, 2022 Jesus didn't just endure the cross. He didn't just resign himself to doing the Father's will; to facing bravely those adversities that he may or may not have been able to avoid anyway. After all, doesn't everyone die whether we like it or not? No, Jesus didn't just endure the cross, he EMBRACED it with love. |
|
Monday, 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle II 2022 Published: Monday, August 1, 2022 I swam against the current of a flood of priests leaving the ministry. The Church was in crisis and people thought I was crazy to get on board what they thought was a sinking ship. What they didn’t know was that Jesus was at the helm. You are swimming against the current of an increasingly secular world and many people really don’t understand your embrace of a vocation rooted in truths that only a person of faith can understand. |
|
Blessing for Abbot Elijah Owens, OSB Published: Saturday, July 16, 2022 Abbot Elijah, you follow a series of abbots who have guided this community well for over 142 years. And now you inherit not only responsibility for this community, but also a rich patrimony of blessings and high regard built up by your predecessors. |
|
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C 2022 Published: Sunday, July 10, 2022 It's only when we begin to love like Jesus loves that we truly start to live the beatitudes, because the inner content of the beatitudes is sacrificial love — death to self for the benefit of others. |
|
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C 2022 Published: Sunday, July 3, 2022 In today's Gospel we learn that sometimes faithfulness to Jesus will require us to face the hostility of those who would rather live a lie than accept the truth. |
|
2022 Priest Jubilarian Mass Published: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 We need to remember that in this imperfect world, there are more storms yet to come. That’s why Jesus gave his disciples that experience out on the lake in today’s Gospel. He wanted to prepare them for what was to come, not only in the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection, but also in their ministry after Pentecost when they would go forth to bring the light of the Gospel into a very dark world. |
|
2022 Opening Mass for National Eucharistic Revival Published: Saturday, June 18, 2022 The Eucharist should draw us into Jesus’ very act of self-giving, such that we increasingly give of ourselves to God and to others in union with Jesus. We offer ourselves in union with Jesus to the Father from the altar during Mass, and having done so, we proceed to offer ourselves in union with Jesus to the Father in loving service. |
|
2022 Permanent Diaconate Ordination in Little Rock and Rogers Published: Saturday, June 11, 2022 God chooses persons and sets them apart for special service, and then equips them with the qualities needed to fulfill that service — this is something you new deacons will soon discover. |
