Alleluia! Today Paul arrives in Ephesus and finds a group of disciples. He asks them one of the most direct questions in all of Acts: "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They answer honestly: "We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit" (Acts 19:2). He lays hands on them. The Spirit comes. They speak in tongues and prophesy. Next Sunday is Pentecost. The Church is spending this week asking your family the same question Paul asked in Ephesus. Come, Holy Spirit.

📰 Quick Hits

1. Pope Leo's First Encyclical Is Coming - Here Is What Catholic Families Should Know

The Vatican has confirmed that an announcement about Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical will take place on May 22 - this Friday. The document, expected to be released publicly by the end of the month, is anticipated to address artificial intelligence, human dignity, the nature of work, and international peace. It is expected to be titled Magnifica Humanitas - Magnificent Humanity - though neither the title nor the content has been officially confirmed. What is confirmed is the frame Leo has been building for a year: he chose the name Leo XIV explicitly to invoke Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum answered the industrial revolution by insisting on the dignity of workers and the limits of capital. The current pope believes AI is posing the same existential questions to the same human dignity - and that the Church has a responsibility to speak. Mark May 22 on your calendar. Domus Daily will also watch for and cover the announcement and the full release.

Faith Lens for the Home: Ask your family tonight: "If the pope is saying AI raises the same questions as the industrial revolution did for workers 135 years ago - what do you think those questions are? What does our family's relationship with technology say about what we think human beings are for?" That conversation does not need the encyclical to happen. It needs a dinner table and a family willing to ask it.

2. Ebola in Congo: The Church Is There

An Ebola outbreak has been spreading through the remote Ituri Province of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo since late April, with cases now confirmed in neighboring Uganda as well. As of this weekend, health authorities report more than 80 deaths and hundreds of suspected cases, caused by a rare strain called Bundibugyo for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment. Response efforts are complicated by ongoing armed conflict, high population movement between mining towns, and limited medical infrastructure in one of the world's most fragile regions. Catholic missionaries and healthcare workers have served northeastern Congo for generations - they are among the few institutions with a sustained presence in communities where government capacity is minimal. The Church is there, as it has always been, in the places the world overlooks.

Faith Lens for the Home: The Church does not wait for a vaccine to show up. It shows up first. Ask your family tonight: "Where does the Church go that governments and corporations don't? What does that tell us about what the Church actually is?" Then pray by name for the people of Ituri Province - the sick, the healthcare workers, the missionaries, the families keeping vigil. "Take courage. I have conquered the world" (John 16:33) - that promise reaches an Ebola ward in Congo.

3. The Week Before Pentecost: A Question for Your Household

Next Sunday is Pentecost - the great feast of the Holy Spirit, the birthday of the Church. This week the Church's readings have been quietly preparing us: Paul lays hands on the Ephesian disciples and the Spirit comes. Jesus promises the Advocate. The Jerusalem community devotes itself to prayer with Mary. The question Paul asked in Ephesus is the question for your family this week: have you received the Holy Spirit? Not as a theological quiz, but as a genuine household examination. Is there prayer in your home? Is there charity? Is there a willingness to speak the faith out loud, to your children, to your neighbors, to the person who needs to hear it? The Spirit does not come to those who already have everything figured out. He comes to people who are honest enough to say they haven't even heard.

Faith Lens for the Home: Ask your family this week - not just tonight but several times: "Where is the Holy Spirit active in our home right now? What would change if we asked him to do more?" Then prepare for Pentecost Sunday as a household: go to Mass together, wear red if you can, and pray Come Holy Spirit before bed each night this week.

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

St. John I - May 18

A 6th-century pope sent by the Ostrogothic king Theodoric to negotiate with the Emperor of Constantinople - the first pope ever to travel to the Eastern capital. He was received with extraordinary honor: the emperor prostrated himself before him, and John celebrated Mass in the Latin rite at the great Church of Hagia Sophia. When he returned, Theodoric - jealous of the reception and suspecting betrayal - had him arrested and imprisoned in Ravenna. He died in custody in 526, weakened and broken. He is honored as a martyr. A pope who died in prison doing his job - on a day when a Catholic publisher sits in a Hong Kong cell doing his.

Ask at dinner: "St. John I died in prison for serving the Church faithfully even when the powerful turned against him. Is there someone today whose faithfulness is costing them something - and are we praying for them?"

✋ One Simple Action

This week before Pentecost: pray Come Holy Spirit once a day as a family - morning, evening, or before a meal. It takes 60 seconds. Ask the Spirit to come into your home the way he came upon the disciples in the upper room. Mark Sunday's Mass on the calendar. Wear red. Come ready.

📚 Read More

• Pope Leo's first encyclical - Vatican announcement May 22: Axios (https://www.axios.com/2026/05/14/pope-leo-xiv-ai-first-encyclical) and Catholic Herald (https://thecatholicherald.com/article/pope-leos-first-encyclical-due-on-may-15)
• Ebola in Congo - what is happening: NPR (https://www.npr.org/2026/05/16/g-s1-122494/new-ebola-outbreak-drc-who-global-emergency) and CDC situation summary (https://www.cdc.gov/ebola/situation-summary/index.html)
• Catholic Relief Services Congo: CRS (https://www.crs.org/our-work-overseas/where-we-work/africa/democratic-republic-congo)
• Come Holy Spirit prayer: EWTN (https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/come-holy-spirit-396)
• St. John I: Catholic Culture (https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2026-05-18)

Paul asked the Ephesian disciples if they had received the Holy Spirit. They said they had never even heard of him. He laid hands on them and the Spirit came. Next Sunday is Pentecost. Come, Holy Spirit.