Domus Daily
Thursday, May 14, 2026 | Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle
Daily reflections for the whole household. Find your path at wearedomus.com/start.

Dear Catholic Parents,

Alleluia! Today the Church celebrates St. Matthias - chosen by lot after the Ascension to fill the place left by Judas. Peter stood up and said simply: someone must witness with us. The disciples prayed, cast lots, and God chose a man nobody had heard of. He became an apostle. In many dioceses the Ascension is observed Sunday - but wherever you are in the liturgical calendar today, the commission is the same: go and make disciples of all nations. This morning, that commission is being lived out in Beijing, in Rome, and perhaps at your own kitchen table.

📰 Quick Hits

1. Trump Is in Beijing Right Now - and Jimmy Lai's Name Is on the Table

As we slept last night in the US, President Trump was meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing - the first U.S. presidential visit to China since Trump's first term in 2017. Trump confirmed this week that he would raise the case of Jimmy Lai directly with Xi. The House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution calling on him to do exactly that. Jimmy Lai is 78 years old, a Catholic convert baptized by Cardinal Joseph Zen, sentenced to 20 years in prison for publishing a pro-democracy newspaper. He is in his cell right now, reading the Gospel every morning, drawing the Crucifixion and the Blessed Mother, praying. His daughter Claire says: "His faith is what protects his mind and soul."

Faith Lens for the Home: Your children should know his name. Tonight at dinner, tell them who Jimmy Lai is - a publisher, a Catholic, a man choosing faith over freedom in a Hong Kong prison cell. Ask: "What do you think gives someone the courage to keep praying when no one can see them? What does his witness tell us about what faith is actually for?" Then pray for him by name.

2. Catholic Education: A Program Worth Knowing, and a Pope at Europe's Largest University

Today is the International Day of Catholic Education - and Pope Leo XIV is spending his morning at La Sapienza University in Rome, Europe's largest university with 125,000 students, delivering an address in the Aula Magna. In 2008, Benedict XVI was forced to cancel his scheduled visit there after protests by professors claiming a pope had no place on a secular campus. Now, students have been praying in adoration in the campus chapel in preparation for Leo's arrival. The chaplain Fr. Gabriele Vecchione says: "This is a laboratory of human hearts. When someone knocks on the chapel door, they're usually seeking guidance or confession - but ultimately, everyone is seeking fatherhood. Someone who believes in them." On the practical side: Catholic families across the US should know that 27 states have now opted into the Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit program - enrollment is live now, with scholarships for Catholic schools beginning January 2027. Whether your children are in Catholic school, public school, or homeschooled, the Church's commitment to forming the whole person belongs to you in the home first.

Faith Lens for the Home: The Sapienza chaplain's line is the one for your table tonight: "Everyone is seeking fatherhood - someone who believes in them." Ask your family: "Are our kids finding that in our home? What does it look like for our family to be the place where our children know they are believed in?" That is formation. Everything else is secondary.

3. A Pope Returns to La Sapienza - and the Students Were Already in Adoration

The deeper story at Sapienza today is not the address or the plaque unveiling - it is what was already happening before Leo arrived. Students in the campus chapel, doing adoration in the afternoon light. A student named Beatrice who always felt like "a perpetual stranger" because she moved so much, and who found at Sapienza's chapel "a place slowly showing me what it means to be a daughter - and I needed that." A chaplain who says his job is to help 125,000 young people "live faith with a rational approach worthy of the 21st century." And now a pope walking into a room that Benedict was kept out of, greeted not by protesters but by students who have been waiting in prayer. The Rector of Sapienza put it plainly: "This visit represents a message of peace and hope at a historic moment. The Pope places his hope in young people."

Faith Lens for the Home: "Everyone is seeking fatherhood - someone who believes in them." That line from the Sapienza chaplain belongs on your refrigerator. The young people doing adoration in a Roman university chapel are the same generation choosing Catholicism for stability that we discussed earlier this week. They are finding what they need - when someone opens the door. Ask your family tonight: is our home an open door?

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

St. Matthias - May 14

Chosen by lot after the Ascension to replace Judas among the Twelve. He had been with Jesus from the baptism of John to the Resurrection - a witness who had seen everything but had never been named until now. Peter said: someone must witness with us. The lot fell to Matthias. He went on, by tradition, to preach in Ethiopia and was martyred there. He is the apostle nobody had heard of, chosen by God, sent to the ends of the earth.

Ask at dinner: "Matthias had been following Jesus the whole time without anyone knowing his name. Is there someone in our life who has been quietly faithful for years - and have we ever told them we noticed?"

✋ One Simple Action

Pray for Jimmy Lai tonight - by name. "Lord, protect Jimmy Lai. His faith is what protects his mind and soul. Let our prayer be part of that." Then ask your family: what is one way our home is an open door this week - for a neighbor, a young person, a stranger seeking fatherhood?

📚 Read More

A man in a Beijing prison reads the Gospel every morning. A student in Rome doing adoration found a place showing her what it means to be a daughter. An apostle nobody had heard of was sent to the ends of the earth. The Great Commission goes everywhere. It starts in your home.

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In Christ,
Deacon Michael Halbrook
wearedomus.com

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