Domus Daily
Monday, October 5, 2026 | Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Daily reflections for the whole household. Find your path at wearedomus.com/start.

Dear Catholic Parents,

A scholar of the law asks Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus tells of a man beaten and left half-dead on the road, a priest and a Levite who each "passed by on the opposite side," and a Samaritan who stops, bandages him, and pays for his care. Asked which of the three was the neighbor, the scholar answers, "The one who treated him with mercy," and Jesus says, "Go and do likewise." Today's news has a report on what church leaders failed to do for children, two Christian women killed in Gaza, and a pope asking children to pray.

The deeper reflection on today's readings - and a daily prayer for your household - is waiting in the & Altar app and at andaltar.com. More after the news.

📰 Quick Hits

1. Massachusetts Attorney General: 275 Clergy, 944 Children, and Leaders Who Knew

On Wednesday, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell released the report of a seven-year investigation into clergy sexual abuse of children in the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield (Massachusetts), and Worcester. It counts 275 accused clergy and 944 survivors going back to the 1950s, though the report says the clergy count was not filtered for credibility and the true scope may never be known. "For years, the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester knew that children were being abused by priests, and they did not do what they should have done to stop it," Campbell said. No new indictments resulted, partly because of statutes of limitations. Fall River's Bishop Edgar da Cunha wrote to survivors, "We as a Church failed you when you were most vulnerable," and Springfield's Bishop William Byrne also apologized. Worcester, the only diocese in the state without a public list of accused clergy, says Vatican guidance advises against publishing names of those not found guilty of a canonical crime.

Faith Lens for the Home: A priest and a Levite saw the wounded man and passed by, and the attorney general says church leaders knew about wounded children and did not do what they should have done. Ask your family: "If something felt wrong or scary, who would you tell, and how would you know you'd be believed?" Pray for every survivor. If you or someone you love was harmed, report to law enforcement and your diocese's victim assistance coordinator.

2. Two Christian Women Killed in Gaza City; Cardinal Pizzaballa Mourns

Early Saturday, during the ceasefire in place since October 2025, an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Gaza City killed at least five people, health and civil defense officials said, among them Maysa Abu Daoud and her daughter Mary Najjar. The Israeli military said it was targeting Ali al-Amoudi, a senior Hamas official it says was in an apartment used for terror activity, and that it took steps to minimize harm to civilians; it was unclear whether he was killed. Maysa and Mary were Greek Orthodox women who had spent a long period sheltering at the Catholic Holy Family parish before moving into the apartment. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, mourned their deaths "with deep sorrow and grief," and Holy Family parish, which only recently celebrated reopening its school, offered its condolences. Their funeral was held Saturday at St. Porphyrius Church.

Faith Lens for the Home: In the Gospel, the Samaritan takes the wounded man to an inn and pays for his care. For a long stretch of the war, a parish took these two women in. Ask your family: "Who opened a door to us when we needed one, and who could we open one for?" Pray tonight for Maysa and Mary, their families, and the Christians of Gaza.

3. Pope Leo: "God Never Discards Our Lives" - and the Children's Rosary Ends Wednesday

At Sunday's Angelus, on the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Leo XIV reflected on the parable of the vineyard tenants and said: "This is how the Almighty guides history, coming to our aid in all our falls: God never discards our lives!" He held up Francis, whom Jesus asked to repair his Church, and urged the faithful to "perseveringly ask for the gift of peace." He renewed his invitation to pray the Rosary through October that wars may cease, and asked for prayers "in particular" for "the Holy Land and for the innocent victims of violence." The children's initiative "A Million Children Praying the Rosary," from Aid to the Church in Need, runs through Wednesday, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Faith Lens for the Home: Say "God never discards our lives" out loud to someone who feels used up. Ask your family: "Who needs to hear that this week?" There are three days left in the children's campaign, so pray a decade tonight for peace, for the Holy Land, and for the survivors we prayed for above.

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

St. Faustina Kowalska - October 5

Helena Kowalska was the third of ten children in a poor Polish farming family. In 1925 she entered the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, and for thirteen years her daily work was ordinary: cook, gardener, porter. In 1931 she recorded a vision of Jesus asking her to have an image painted with the words "Jesus, I trust in you," and she wrote down what she received in a diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul. She died of tuberculosis in Kraków on this day in 1938, at 33. John Paul II canonized her in 2000 and established Divine Mercy Sunday the same day.

Also today in the U.S.: Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos. A Bavarian-born Redemptorist priest revered as a confessor, he became pastor of St. Mary's Assumption Church in New Orleans in 1866. When yellow fever struck the city he kept visiting the sick, caught the disease himself, and died on October 4, 1867, at 48.

Ask at dinner: "Faustina trusted Jesus in ordinary work, and Seelos stayed with the sick. Who is someone near us who needs mercy this week, and what is one thing we could do for them?"

✋ One Simple Action

At or around 3 p.m. today, the hour Faustina's devotion calls the Hour of Mercy, pause for a moment and pray "Jesus, I trust in you." Tonight, pray one decade of the Rosary as a family for peace and for survivors of abuse. Then choose one person who is easy to overlook this week and do one concrete thing for them.

📚 Read More

A man lay half-dead on the road, and two men who should have stopped walked on. This week a state report described what it looks like when church leaders do not stop to help as they should. Two Christian women were buried in Gaza, and a pope asked children around the world to pray the Rosary for peace. The neighbor, Jesus says, is the one who treated him with mercy. Go and do likewise.

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In Christ,
Deacon Michael Halbrook
wearedomus.com

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