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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Blessed Stanley Rother Catholic School Graduation 2019 Published: Monday, October 28, 2019 When Blessed Apla's arrived in Santiago Atitlan five years later, he would discover that the most important things he had learned in the seminary had to do with human virtues rather than academic subjects, and among them the things that were most useful to him here were what I mentioned before: his humble, courageous perseverance. |
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30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Published: Sunday, October 27, 2019 (Blessed Stanley Rother) lived most of his priesthood here, and learned your customs and your language. Your home became his home. He gave himself to you fully in life long before he gave himself to you in death. And his heart remains here in this church among you, the people to whom he gave his heart as a priest long before he gave it to you as a martyr. |
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29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Published: Sunday, October 20, 2019 And above and beyond whatever benefits others may receive from our prayer and good deeds, these acts of piety and service benefit us who pray — indeed, they are the means by which we become saints. |
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28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Published: Sunday, October 13, 2019 Well when was the last time you said thanks to your wife or mother for cooking all those meals and doing all that laundry? Or to your husband or father for all he does to provide for your family? A lot of marriages and families would be a whole lot happier if the members said thanks more often. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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.” |
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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. |
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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! |
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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. |
