Alleluia! In today's readings the early Church faces its first major theological dispute - and instead of splitting, they travel to Jerusalem together. Along the way they report the conversion of the Gentiles, and "they gave great joy to all the brethren" (Acts 15:3). Then the Gospel: "I am the true vine... remain in me, and I in you" (John 15:1,4). The Church argues, stays connected, bears fruit. The answer to every dispute, every pressure, every drift - is the same two words: remain in me.

📰 Quick Hits

1. Supreme Court Temporarily Allows Mail-Order Abortion Pills to Continue

At the request of two abortion drug companies, the Supreme Court issued a temporary stay this week blocking a lower court ruling that had reimposed in-person safety requirements for mifepristone. The stay holds while the Court decides whether to take up the case. It is not a final ruling - but it keeps the easier access to chemical abortion in place for now. Louisiana, which originally brought the case arguing the policy undermined state law, has until May 7 to respond.

Faith Lens for the Home: The Church teaches that every life - from the moment of conception - is sacred and deserving of protection. Ask your family: "Why does the Church care so much about how medications that end pregnancies are distributed? What does that tell us about how we see every human life?" Keep it simple and factual. Then pray together for mothers in difficult situations - they deserve real help, not an easier exit.

2. India's Bishops: New Law Could Put Priests in Prison for Normal OCIA

Bishops in Maharashtra, India warned this week that a newly passed anti-conversion law could expose priests and laypeople to up to seven years in prison for carrying out ordinary OCIA - the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults - if family members object and claim coercion. The law shifts the burden of proof onto the accused. The bishops note that OCIA is specifically designed to ensure conversions are free, informed, and voluntary - the very opposite of coercion. The vague language of the law, they say, makes no distinction.

Faith Lens for the Home: Paul and Barnabas traveled to Jerusalem to defend the freedom of Gentiles to enter the Church on their own terms. The same argument is being made in Maharashtra today. Ask your family: "What would it mean if someone could go to prison for teaching our faith? How would that change what we do?" The answer to that question reveals how much our faith actually means to us.

3. The Vine and the Branches - and What May Is For

Jesus says "remain in me" seven times in today's Gospel passage. Seven. The repetition is not accidental. Remaining is not passive - it is the active, daily choice to stay connected to the source. In May, the Church gives us Mary as the model of exactly that: a woman who heard the word of God and kept it, who pondered, who stayed. The Rosary is the family practice of remaining - fifteen or twenty minutes of deliberately staying close to the vine. If your family has let the May Rosary habit slip, tonight is the night to revive it.

Faith Lens for the Home: Ask your family: "What helps us stay connected to God - and what pulls us away?" Name both honestly. Then pick one small habit to add this week that keeps you closer to the vine.

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

St. John Before the Latin Gate - May 6

A traditional feast, removed from the universal calendar in 1960 but still honored in the Roman Martyrology: the Apostle John was brought to Rome under Emperor Domitian and thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil near the Latin Gate. He stepped out unharmed - more vigorous than before, says the tradition. He is the only apostle who did not die by the sword. Yet the oil meant to destroy him became his testimony. He is honored as a martyr in will. A church still marks the site in Rome today.

Ask at dinner: "The oil meant to destroy John became the sign of God's protection. Has our family ever experienced something meant to harm us that God turned into something else?"

✋ One Simple Action

Pray one decade of the Rosary tonight - for the mothers facing crisis pregnancies, for the Church in India, and for your own family's rootedness in the vine. Mary remained. So can we.

📚 Read More

• SCOTUS stay on abortion pill safety rules: NCRegister / EWTN News (https://www.ncregister.com/cna/scotus-temporarily-lifts-abortion-pill-restrictions-at-request-of-drug-companies) and Catholic Culture (https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=64823)
• India's Maharashtra anti-conversion law: Kairos Global / ACI Asia (https://www.jykairosmedia.org/post/news-watch-may-2026)
• St. John Before the Latin Gate: Catholic Saints Info (https://catholicsaints.info/feast-of-saint-john-before-the-latin-gate/)

Remain in me. Three words. The answer to so much. Live them in your home today.