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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Deacon Recommitment Mass 2017 Published: Saturday, April 1, 2017 In addition to giving me an opportunity to thank you, this Mass is also for the purpose of giving you the opportunity to renew your commitment as a deacon — sort of like priests do at the Chrism Mass, putting you back in touch with the Lord's call in your life and your generous response to that call. |
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Fourth Sunday of Lent 2017 Published: Sunday, March 26, 2017 You and I are like the people in this story: There are certain things to which we are blind, regarding which we lack insight. Sometimes this is willful blindness due to fear — we see this in the actions of our government regarding immigration. |
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Third Sunday of Lent 2017 Published: Sunday, March 19, 2017 First she feels loved by God, and only then is she ready for solid doctrine. Solid doctrine that is not just a matter of theological interest, but which really makes a difference in her sense of self and the meaning of her life going forward. |
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Second Sunday of Lent 2017 Published: Saturday, March 11, 2017 And it is only then that it will all begin to make sense: Jesus' glorious identity as the Son of God who will save us by means of a very un-glorious death — something they're not quite ready to understand. |
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Rite of Election 2017 Published: Sunday, March 5, 2017 In RCIA you have studied the teaching of Jesus and considered how to apply this to your own lives, but more important is that you get to know Jesus himself as a person. You know, we are saved by who we know, not by what we know. |
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First Sunday of Lent 2017 Published: Sunday, March 5, 2017 One of the purposes of Lent is to put us back in touch with our brothers and sisters who are poor. When we fast, we feel in our own bodies the hunger they wake up with every morning. When we abstain from meat and give up desserts, we experience a little of the same austerity that they live with all the time. |
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Ash Wednesday 2017 Published: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 What Jesus is saying is that without private prayer, the public prayer (Mass) becomes routine and eventually can become just for show, meeting your Sunday obligation but without any real conversion of heart to the Lord. |
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Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, February 26, 2017 In American law today, the parents are consumers and the child in the womb is a commodity. The parents decide whether to keep the product or send it back (abortion), especially if quality control (amniocentesis) says there are defects. Some will sue for damages if the doctor doesn’t give them a perfect baby. |
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Marriage Anniversary Mass 2017 Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2017 In any event, if your marriage is truly a sacrament, you should be able to encounter Jesus in your spouse. He brought you together, he kept you together and he has sometimes helped you to carry a cross together. |
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Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, February 19, 2017 Regardless of what we think about someone else’s behavior, our opinion must not get in the way of our love. Sometimes we must condemn the sin we see around us, cry out against injustice, confront bad deeds, but we are never free to condemn the sinner — never free to make it personal. |
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Confirmation: Fear of the Lord 2017 Published: Sunday, February 12, 2017 (God) has a plan for your life which you will discover if you draw on the gifts you receive today and dedicate yourself to making the doing of his will the number one priority in your life. |
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Arkansas Catholic Men’s Conference 2017 Published: Saturday, February 4, 2017 One reason eucharistic adoration was so popular among young couples in a parish I served in Oklahoma was that this was just about the only hour of peace and quiet many of these couples got that entire week. It was a time for Jesus to recharge their batteries. It was a time for the Lord to give them insights about how best to parent the little lambs entrusted to their care. |
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Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Saturday, February 4, 2017 We are to be the salt of the earth: to preserve and protect and build up our world — both materially and spiritually, within the Church and in society. We do this by proclaiming the Gospel of Life and the intrinsic worth of the human person from the first moment of conception to natural death. |
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Catholic Arkansas Sharing Appeal 2017 Published: Thursday, February 2, 2017 Today I invite you to be salt and light, to do your share in the building of the kingdom of God. We do it in union with Jesus and as members of his body the Church, hence our annual Catholic Arkansas Sharing Appeal (CASA). |
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Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Published: Sunday, January 29, 2017 Many parents fail to discipline their children out of a misguided fear that humbling them will somehow harm their self-esteem, when in fact the opposite is true. Discipline and clear consistent boundaries make children feel secure and give them a solid foundation on which true self-esteem can be built. |
