Bishop Taylor Homily Library

Homilías en Español

E.g., 03/28/2024
E.g., 03/28/2024

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.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Published: Sunday, October 6, 2019
The only thing a master owes his slave is not to punish him if he does what he's told. Any reward beyond that won't be due to his justice, but rather due solely to the master's unearned, undeserved kindness. In other words, if you go to hell it will be because of what you did, but if you go to heaven, it will be due to God's grace and not because you have somehow “earned” the right to go there.
Red Mass 2019
Published: Friday, October 4, 2019
Religion binds us to God and a system of beliefs about God: No one has fewer resources for life than the person with no religion, whose connection to the source of life has been cut.
Funeral for Basil H. Taylor
Published: Monday, September 23, 2019
But I was delighted to see (Dad's) joy in being validated — he did a little victory dance — validated in his memory about this detail about how the Sunday obligation was understood in the past. Because, you see, the reception of the Eucharist, that intimate connection with Jesus, was at the very center of his relationship with God.
Wake for Basil H. Taylor
Published: Sunday, September 22, 2019
Dad was so patient and so loyal because he was a man not only of faith, but also a man of hope; he never gave up on any of us. He trusted that the Lord would see us through … that the Lord would provide. And the Lord always did.
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Published: Sunday, September 8, 2019
So religion starts as an intensely personal matter — our personal relationship with Jesus — but that relationship should unite us to Jesus in a way that conforms our will to his, motivating us to try to live as he did and stand for the things he stood for.
Saturday, 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle I
Published: Saturday, September 7, 2019
One of the reasons we abstain from meat on Fridays of Lent is to help us identify with the poor who cannot afford meat. If you eat lobster, you have not violated the letter of the law regarding this Lenten regulation, but fine dining of this sort is contrary to the spirit of Lent.
Friday, 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle I
Published: Friday, September 6, 2019
Considering that we eventually separated from Judaism, you may be surprised to learn that in the Gospels it seems clear that continuity is what Jesus had in mind, at least at this point. He came to prune the old religion, improve it ... to replace parts of it, discarding wrong attitudes and abuses, but not to replace or discard Judaism as a whole.
St. Teresa of Calcutta Mass 2019
Published: Thursday, September 5, 2019
What Jesus is talking about here is giving simple help to those in need, people we see on the street or even just acts of kindness to people we meet every day. Maybe people who are sort of invisible otherwise. Mother Teresa says: “We can do no great things — only small things with great love.”
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Published: Sunday, September 1, 2019
Ambition or dedication? This may be the greatest spiritual challenge that any of us ever faces and your choice will impact every sector of your life. It is the choice between pursuing success as the world judges success or placing yourself at the service of others in a way truly worthy of the Lord.
Funeral for Sister Mary Alice Grace, OCD
Published: Saturday, August 17, 2019
She was more “alive” in her 90s than most people are in their 60s, especially in the way she radiated childlike joy — just like we see Jesus referring to in the Gospel chosen for her funeral: “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike.” That would be Sister Mary Alice!
Sisters Catherine and María Rose Profess Perpetual Vows
Published: Thursday, August 15, 2019
Sisters Catherine and María Rose will be wearing rings that two of their faithful predecessors in this community wore throughout their monastic life. You Benedictine sisters are a multi-generational family; sisters united in faithfulness across multiple generations.
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!
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.
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.
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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