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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Friday, 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle I Published: Friday, September 22, 2017 Jesus had cast seven devils out of (Mary Magdalene), so clearly she had a dark and terrible past, and even afterwards she probably had wounds that would be a long time in healing. She knew she needed what Jesus had to offer and she stuck by him in his darkest moments, all the way to the end. |
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Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows 2017 Published: Friday, September 15, 2017 Just as Mary never abandoned her son, remaining at the foot of the cross and filling her eyes with a sight that no mother should ever have to see, so also does she who is now our mother remain with us, never abandoning us either. |
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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, September 10, 2017 Is there someone in your life from whom you are alienated due to their sin — or maybe your own? If so, what plan do you have to set things right? Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel is very concrete and practical: Put it into words, speak face to face, and if that doesn’t work, get the help of a wise person. |
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Religious Jubilarian Mass 2017 Published: Saturday, September 9, 2017 Each of us who has responded to the Lord’s call has a mission too, a call that is unique to us ... different from that of St. Peter Claver in its particulars, but just as necessary in God’s plan. |
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St. Teresa of Kolkata Feast Day Mass 2017 Published: Tuesday, September 5, 2017 Our world was created by a God who is far wiser than any of us. If we start with the realization that the purpose of life is not merely happiness, but rather character — to know him, love him and serve him in this life in order to be happy with him forever in the next — it would be hard to imagine a better world for the development of character. |
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Hot Springs Prayer Service for Peace Published: Saturday, August 19, 2017 The light is stronger than the darkness, so if we let our light shine, the darkness will of necessity have to recede. Love is stronger than hatred, so all we need to do is continue to extend love and eventually hardened hearts will begin to soften. |
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Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2017 Published: Tuesday, August 15, 2017 What has happened to Mary first will eventually happen also to us. This is the great mystery of the assumption. This is why this feast is a feast of such great importance for us: We too will be raised from the dead one day, our bodies will rise from the decay of death and we will draw close to God in heaven, sharing in his glory. |
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19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, August 13, 2017 Indeed, not only does love inspire courage, acting courageously causes that love to grow. It deepens our investment in the well-being of the other, to the point that our lives become so tightly intertwined that it hurts us more to see that loved one suffer than it would be to suffer the same adversity ourselves. |
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Mass with Seminarians and Parents 2017 Published: Saturday, August 5, 2017 The priesthood is a great adventure. Like with Jesus’ original followers, you have no idea where it’s going to take you. But one thing is for sure, if you conform your life to the image of Christ himself, there will be no lack of opportunities for you to “offer a constant witness of faith and love.” |
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Mass with Seminarians 2017 Published: Monday, July 31, 2017 Over the years this growing bush that we call the Church has been subjected to repeated setbacks — some of which have been self-inflicted, only to emerge from these prunings with renewed vigor and even greater growth, to the point that now one-third of humanity is Christian and 20 percent is Catholic. |
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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, July 30, 2017 How much different would American society be today if the challenges of marriage and child rearing were once again viewed as a treasure that God will use to help them grow in holiness instead of as a burden? |
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16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, July 23, 2017 Not all mortal sins are premeditated, but as one of my seminary professors once said, you don’t commit mortal sins by accident. It takes energy to commit really big sins, at least the first time or two that you commit them. |
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Jubilarian Mass at Holy Angels Convent 2017 Published: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 This means that before we do or say anything, we should ask: “Can I do this calling on the name of Jesus? Would I say this if Jesus were right here with me?” Well he is! Keep that always in mind and the virtues St. Paul lists will take ever deeper root in your hearts and in your behavior. |
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14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, July 9, 2017 Our parents can do all in their power to give us the precious gift of faith, but in every instance the gift must still be received, we still must open up our own heart, take that yoke upon our own shoulders ... and no one can do that for us. |
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2017 Priest Jubilarian Mass Published: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 In baptism we died sacramentally so that we might live. In ordination we die so that others might live. And then Jesus sends us out into the world with a mission to redirect people to the narrow path that leads to life — which will only happen if we remain on that narrow path ourselves. |
