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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Deacon Ordination of Christopher Elser Published: Saturday, May 24, 2025 I thank you for the reminder you give the rest of us to continue to give eloquent witness to all that God must be loved above all else and that it is the Lord whom we serve when we serve others. |
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Deacon Ordination of Joseph Nguyen and Tuan Do Published: Wednesday, May 21, 2025 It is striking that in the New Testament when the Church established the order of deacons, we didn’t call those ordained for this service "douloi" ("slaves") but rather "diakonoi" ("servants"), hence deacons, because the obedience you promise today is not just the mere compliance of a slave, it is the self-sacrificing gift of yourself to the Lord. |
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2025 Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C Published: Sunday, May 18, 2025 The people we hurt the most are often the people whom we love the most, and it is doubly tragic when our pride keeps us from humbling ourselves and seeking forgiveness from them. |
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Deacon Ordination of Duwan Booker Published: Thursday, May 15, 2025 Duwan, whether you knew it or not, the Lord has had plans for you from before you were ever born. In that sense he has called you from your mother’s womb, and like Jeremiah, you have said: “yes.” |
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Deacon Ordination of Quinton Thomas Published: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 I rejoice in the knowledge that the commitment you make today will fill your life with meaning and purpose and joy that go way beyond what can be described in words to those who have not yet experienced it themselves. |
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2025 Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C Published: Saturday, May 10, 2025 Jesus himself faced rejection, betrayal, torture and death at the hands of evil men and though his Father was with him through it all, he died a cruel death just the same. |
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Pope Francis Memorial Mass 2025 Published: Sunday, April 27, 2025 Pope Francis enshrined his vision for the Church not only in eloquent actions that captured our imagination but also in a series of powerful documents on a wide variety of topics, especially as these topics had implications for the weak and vulnerable. ... And of course, in addition to his teaching with words, there was also his teaching by example: like I said earlier: welcoming migrants, washing the feet of inmates, appealing for peace in countless trouble spots. |
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Easter Vigil Mass 2025 Published: Saturday, April 19, 2025 Jesus, through his resurrection, has broken not only the power of sin, but also the power of death. So fear should no longer have such power over us. "If God is for us, who can be against us?” |
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Good Friday of the Lord's Passion 2025 Published: Friday, April 18, 2025 His last seven words in this life have a lot to say to us who must now take up our crosses and follow him. |
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Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper 2025 Published: Thursday, April 17, 2025 In John's version of the Last Supper in today's Gospel, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples to remind us that the union we claim with Jesus is genuine only if it leads to a life of humble service. Not just a good moral life and a few good deeds here and there, but rather an entire life lived in such a way that humble service has become second nature to us, which we rejoice to see so clearly in the life and example of Pope Francis. |
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Chrism Mass 2025 Published: Monday, April 14, 2025 These oils are blessed and consecrated at this one Mass as a sign of our unity as one Church and will be taken from here to all the parishes in our state and used throughout the coming year for the administration of the sacraments in which we all share. |
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Palm Sunday 2025 Published: Sunday, April 13, 2025 We mark Jesus' apparently triumphant entry into Jerusalem, hailed as king, honored as the messianic Son of David, greeted with branches cut from trees and hosannas on people’s lips. But then Mass gets underway ... in which we mark Jesus' apparent defeat. |
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2025 Fifth Grade Vocations Day in Central Arkansas Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 My hope is that you will grow in the realization that Jesus will be with you and will help you if you are true to him and that being true to him means doing what he is asking of you already now as a fifth grader. Can you honestly say that Jesus is your best friend? If he is, then doing what he asks will be easy because your “yes” to him is solid. |
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2025 Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C Published: Sunday, April 6, 2025 People don’t have to commit any great crime to merit our condemnation. We judge peoples’ motives without having all the facts. We gossip, cast verbal stones, against people whose foibles and sins are no worse than our own; try to make ourselves look good at their expense. |
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2025 Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C Published: Sunday, March 30, 2025 We exchange a sign of peace and mutual acceptance, which is the price of admission to this banquet of God’s unconditional love. Mass is not an awards banquet for the righteous; it is a hospital for people with wounded souls — often self-inflicted spiritual wounds, and thus a place of healing for sinners, whether our selfishness resembles that of the older son or the younger son, or both. |
