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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Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2019 Published: Wednesday, August 14, 2019 Every mystery of Mary is meant to draw us closer to Jesus. Every feast of Mary is meant to help us better understand how Jesus’ promises of salvation are really true and apply to us. So Mary, who is a human being just like us — fully woman and the best of humanity, but no more divine than we are — SHE has been raised to heaven at the end of her life on earth. She is the first fruits of the great harvest of salvation, which is us! |
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Mass with Seminarians 2019 Published: Monday, August 5, 2019 Remember all the talk of gloom and doom regarding religious vocations in the not too distant past, projections that if those trends continued, one day there would only be four priests left for all of Arkansas? But we trusted in God's providence and look at the results. |
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18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Published: Sunday, August 4, 2019 Fidelity to Jesus requires us to be just as countercultural in our own time as Jesus was in his. And his message is that true happiness does not come from getting, it comes from giving. |
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Permanent Deacon Lector Installation 2019 Published: Saturday, August 3, 2019 My brothers who are being installed as lectors in this Mass, if you want to be a faithful deacon, you will have to find in yourself the generosity to “give up your life” for the Lord and “for the salvation of your brothers and sisters.” Certainly, in your words and deeds, and maybe even with your blood. |
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16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Published: Sunday, July 21, 2019 There's a big difference between human traditions that can and at times must change and divine revelation that does not change — Tradition with a capital "T" — which is what Mary was learning as she sat with the Lord, and what Martha was missing out on by fretting too much about the less important details of hospitality. |
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15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Published: Sunday, July 14, 2019 For Pablo this is a response to God’s invitation not only to love God with all his heart, mind, soul and strength, but also to love others — everyone — as Jesus loves us, meaning 100 percent, sacrificially, like the good Samaritan in today’s Gospel, indeed like Jesus on the cross. |
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Catholic Charities Summer Institute (C²SI) 2019 Published: Friday, July 12, 2019 In today’s Gospel Jesus says to do three things: 1.) keep your eyes open; 2.) be courageous; and 3.) persevere … and he promises to help us through these troubles. Here Jesus is speaking about the persecution of believers by the government and betrayal by their own family members, but what he says applies to other troubles as well. |
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Jubilarian Mass at Holy Angels Convent 2019 Published: Thursday, July 11, 2019 Today we are gathered to celebrate our jubilarians, our Sisters Mary John Seyler and Mary Thérèse Johnson who this year mark 70 and 25 years respectively serving the Lord in this monastic community — a total of almost 100 years. |
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14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Published: Sunday, July 7, 2019 The Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaims is countercultural and all of us — especially us priests — have an obligation to proclaim God’s truth whether it is popular or not. |
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Confirmation 2019 Published: Tuesday, July 2, 2019 The word, “confirmation” means “strengthened with” the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. A lot of people think this is about you “confirming” your faith, saying you agree with it and it is true that you do profess your faith as part of the ceremony, but that’s not the most important thing that happens. |
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2019 Priest Jubilarian Mass Published: Tuesday, June 25, 2019 And I think we all know that your vocation story is remarkable and quite inspiring, in particular your willingness to put your life on the line and undergo dangerous surgery to correct a medical problem that would otherwise prevented you from serving as a priest. |
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Thursday, 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle I Published: Thursday, June 20, 2019 Today we gather to bid farewell to Sisters Mayela, Magdalena and Teresa who have served us so faithfully these last five years. They have worked hard to prepare you, their parishioners, for the mission he has for each one of you going forward once they are gone. |
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Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity 2019 Published: Sunday, June 16, 2019 In Mass — whenever I start with "Let us pray" — the answer is, to "God the Father", but since the Trinity is One God, we can't address the Father without at least implicitly including the Son and Holy Spirit. That's why, though these prayers are to the Father, they are "through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen." |
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Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C Published: Sunday, May 26, 2019 The true peace that Jesus gives is an interior peace that is independent of outward circumstances — including inner peace in times of transition and change, like what we are experiencing today. It is the peace not of escapism but rather of that peace, which is the fruit of self-sacrificing love. It is a peace that costs us a lot personally. |
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Priesthood Ordination of Deacon Jon Miskin Published: Saturday, May 25, 2019 Our diocese is a living mosaic of very diverse people — sort of like a stained-glass window whose true beauty shines fully only when it is illuminated by the light of mutual love — when the variety of our cultures and races are allowed to shine forth brilliantly. And St. Raphael Parish in Springdale, where you will begin your priestly ministry, is an excellent example of this. |
