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 Immaculate Conception 2021 Published: Wednesday, December 8, 2021 No matter what, you are his son or daughter. But for that salvation to become yours, to make a difference in your life and in the lives of others, you do have to open your heart like Mary did. |
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Second Sunday of Advent, Year C 2021 Published: Sunday, December 5, 2021 People and nations, including our own, continue to pursue power, possessions, pleasure and prestige at the expense of the poor and vulnerable. Sexual immorality, and even worse, abortion, continues to cause tremendous damage to individual lives and to our society as a whole. And isn’t it true that we mostly act like confronting these evils is none of our business? |
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First Sunday of Advent, Year C 2021 Published: Sunday, November 28, 2021 If you are vigilant and pray and act, not to worry: you'll be ready for the Lord when he comes. But if you don't, watch out! That day will catch you by surprise like a trap. |
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Thanksgiving 2021 Published: Thursday, November 25, 2021 When Thanksgiving is celebrated as an isolated event that does not flow from an everyday attitude of humble gratitude, it can easily degenerate into a celebration of the superiority of our nation and indeed the pride of place of certain groups of people in our national self-understanding. In other words, a celebration that divides rather than unites. |
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Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe 2021 Published: Sunday, November 21, 2021 Earthly nations have borders, but the kingdom of God has no limits, be they territorial, linguistic or racial, no boundaries at all. And unlike politics in most countries, everything in the kingdom of God is true, sincere and just. No “alternate truths” that are really lies, none of the disinformation and disregard for the truth that has so corrupted our public discourse. |
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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 2021 Published: Sunday, November 7, 2021 If you are generous and faithful and put (God's) will first, he'll be faithful to you, and by the way, as your desires become simpler and more in accord with God's will, even most of your desires begin to be met. |
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All Souls' Day 2021 Published: Tuesday, November 2, 2021 It is obvious that this psalmist felt closer to God in the dark valley than in the green pastures. And it is always that way. For our loved ones, “the strife is o’er and the battle done,” and we pray that they may now be in those green pastures on the other side of death. |
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30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 2021 Published: Sunday, October 24, 2021 We can’t give effective witness to Jesus unless we know him ourselves. Knowing about him is not the same thing as knowing him. We are not saved by what we know but rather by who we know. Jesus is our redeemer. He came to set us free from sin and death and everything else that holds us bound. Some of us may be investing a lot of energy studying his teachings and even reading a lot of Scripture, but this will not bear lasting fruit apart from a living relationship with Jesus, our constant companion. |
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Opening Mass of the Synod on Synodality 2021 Published: Sunday, October 17, 2021 Synodality requires that we really try to include those who feel excluded. ... How can we journey with people who, for whatever reason, feel pushed to the periphery in the Church and in society? There’s a lot to learn from each other. |
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28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 2021 Published: Sunday, October 10, 2021 Do we really expect to pass through the eye of that needle with all of our stuff, and in particular any stuff we buy with the 10 percent that rightly belongs to God and in some cases spending the other 90 percent on low priority items instead of thinking first about how God wants us to use our money? |
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27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 2021 Published: Sunday, October 3, 2021 Today’s Jews still have a valid covenant with God. God remains bound to his people and they remain bound to him forever. And the same is true for us. Through baptism we entered into a valid covenant with God through Jesus Christ, and through Jesus we remain bound to God forever. |
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Mass with Brothers and Sisters of Charity 2021 Published: Saturday, October 2, 2021 Jesus understands marriage to be not a contract but rather a covenant, like the unbreakable covenant between God and his people. And it is the will of God from the beginning of creation that in marriage the two become one flesh, such that there are no longer two parties; nothing to separate. |
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Red Mass 2021 Published: Friday, October 1, 2021 Let me share with you a secret that has given me a great deal of peace when I have had to deal with difficult, painful situations. I draw on that last gift of the Holy Spirit (fear of the Lord) in this way: I remind myself consciously that the only one I have to please is the Lord. |
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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 2021 Published: Sunday, September 26, 2021 Jesus doesn't want us to go around cutting off body parts we used to sin with, and besides, we sin with our brains: that's where we choose evil. What he's saying is that if you think that's bad, wait until you see hell. The stakes are that high, and so if we're smart, we'll do everything possible to avoid its eternal flames. |
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25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 2021 Published: Saturday, September 18, 2021 Who are the people who have had the most positive impact on your life? I’ll bet they are the people who have sacrificed themselves the most for you. And how did they change you — by coercion or by persuasion? |
