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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Msgr. Scott Friend's 30th Anniversary of Ordination Published: Saturday, June 17, 2017 I simply want to thank you for embracing the sacrifices you make to serve me and to serve the Church in Arkansas. Like Peter, James and John, you are one of my pillars on whom I most rely and most trust. |
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Transfer of Vows of Sister Johanna Marie Melnyk, OSB Published: Monday, June 12, 2017 Sister Johanna Marie comes to your community rich in many non-monetary ways. She brings with her a wealth of education and many talents, many gifts of personality and spirituality. She already knows God and therefore eternal life. |
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Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity 2017 Published: Sunday, June 11, 2017 God is love, which is a relationship, which requires multiple persons, therefore there never has been one person of the Trinity without the others. We humans may have known about the three persons of the Trinity for different lengths of time and theologians may be able to trace the development of our doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, but that's us going through a series of stages, not God. |
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Priesthood Ordination of Martin Siebold, Luke Womack, Ramses Mendieta, Stephen Hart and William Burmester Published: Saturday, May 27, 2017 Ninety-nine percent of the time, your ministry will require you to lead but not compel; to inspire and not shame; to encourage the sheep instead of rebuking them — and hopefully that rare one percent of the time when rebuking is needed might never arise, if they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you love them and revere them. |
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Graduation 2017 Published: Friday, May 26, 2017 You graduates are about to embark on the most exciting and most dangerous chapter of your life. Soon you will be out from under the direct control of your parents and you will have to learn how to use this new freedom responsibly. |
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Diaconate Ordination of Stephen Elser, Joseph DeOrbegozo, Patrick Friend Published: Wednesday, May 24, 2017 (Celibate chastity) means much more than just sexual abstinence. Chastity requires us to be pure not only in our overt actions, but also in our thoughts and in our words, pure in the way we deal with others — no deceit, no mixed messages. Pure and sincere in the desires of our own heart. And of course this requires death to self, which is the foundation of a life lived for others. |
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Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A Published: Sunday, May 21, 2017 But no parish can have nine current seminarians without the strong witness of a pastor who loves his priesthood and wants other young men to share in the joy that he has found in serving God's people as a priest. |
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Diaconate Ordination of Daniel Ramos Published: Saturday, May 20, 2017 This gift of yourself will be both a sign of pastoral charity and an inspiration to it, as well as a source of spiritual fruitfulness in the world. |
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Diaconate Ordination of Keith Higginbotham Published: Thursday, May 18, 2017 And of course the word "deacon" itself means "servant" and the service that a deacon offers emerges from prayer and is rooted in love. |
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Easter Vigil 2017 Published: Saturday, April 15, 2017 You and I are called to be sons and daughters of the light. ... Jesus sends us forth to bring the light we experience today to others. Light is not supposed to be left behind at the church door when we return to what is falsely called "the real world." |
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Good Friday of the Lord's Passion 2017 Published: Friday, April 14, 2017 Jesus extends his arms to show us how much he loves us and that there is nothing we can do — not even terrible deeds — that would cause us to forfeit his love. |
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Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper 2017 Published: Thursday, April 13, 2017 You and I are accustomed to calling the first of these three days Holy Thursday, but it also has an older name that some of you may remember from the past: Maundy Thursday. The word, “maundy,” comes from the Latin “mandatum” and means “commandment” or “mandate” — in this case referring to Jesus’ commandment to “love one another.” |
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Chrism Mass 2017 Published: Monday, April 10, 2017 By means of these anointings we become another "Christ." That is why we are called "Christians" — "Christ" is Greek for "anointed one" and we've been anointed. |
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Palm Sunday 2017 Published: Sunday, April 9, 2017 As we begin this Holy Week, we lift up palms to remind ourselves of just how fickle we are. We honor the Lord one day and yet are fully capable of betraying him the next. |
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Diaconate Ordination of Tuyen Do and Jeff Hebert Published: Saturday, April 8, 2017 What I am trying to say is that while celibacy involves sacrifice and death to self, you will discover it to be a gift that enables you to love others more fully and more freely, your life modeled on Jesus who also was celibate — probably for that very same reason — and who will give you the grace you need to live with total dedication the promises you make today. |
