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Alleluia! Today's reading from Acts is a great scene. Philip is sent down a desert road and encounters an Ethiopian official sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah - and not understanding it. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asks. The man's answer is one of the most honest things anyone ever said: "How can I, unless someone guides me?" Philip climbs in and explains it. The man is baptized by the road. He continues on his way rejoicing. That is the whole of evangelization: Someone is on a road, reading, searching, not quite understanding - and someone else stops to meet them.

📰 Quick Hits

1. Pope Leo Visits Equatorial Guinea's Most Notorious Prison on His Final Day in Africa

On the last full day of his 11-day Africa pilgrimage, Pope Leo XIV stood in a prison courtyard in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, in the rain, with 600 inmates - most of them young men in orange uniforms - gathered around him in song. An inmate kissed his hand. Another gave him a wooden cross they had made inside. The Pope told them: "No one is excluded from God's love. Life is not defined solely by one's mistakes. A person who gets back up after falling is stronger than before." He ended by praying the Our Father with them in the rain - which he called "a blessing from God." In the days before the visit, the government quietly released nearly 100 prisoners. The Pope's presence alone moved something.

Faith Lens for the Home: "God never grows tired of forgiving" - that's what Leo told those inmates. Ask your family tonight: "Is there anyone we have given up on - including ourselves? What does it mean that God never grows tired of forgiving?" That question is as alive in your kitchen as it was in that Equatorial Guinea prison courtyard.

2. 92% of This Year's New Priests Were Encouraged by Someone They Knew - Usually a Parish Priest

The USCCB released its annual survey of the more than 400 men being ordained to the priesthood in the U.S. this year, conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown. The headline finding: 92% said at least one person encouraged them to consider the priesthood. That person was most often a parish priest (70%), followed by a friend (49%) and their mother (46%). The average ordinand first considered the priesthood at age 16. Most were altar servers, regular at Eucharistic adoration, and rooted in parish life long before they ever entered seminary. Almost none arrived at the altar alone.

Faith Lens for the Home: Philip ran to meet the chariot. Someone ran toward these 400 men too - usually a priest, a friend, a mother who said "have you ever thought about this?" Your family is someone's Philip. Ask tonight: "Who in our life might be reading something they don't fully understand yet - about faith, about vocation, about what their life is for? Who could we run toward?"

3. May 1 Is the College Commitment Deadline. Here's the Question That Matters Most.

May 1 is the national deadline for high school seniors to commit to a college or university. If you have a student facing that decision - or a young adult in any season of discernment - the Ethiopian eunuch's question is the right one to put on the table this week: not just "which school?" but "what is God asking of you, and who is sitting beside you to help you hear it?" The CARA survey found that the average ordinand first discerned his vocation at 16 - the same age many students are starting to explore colleges. Discernment is not a crisis to solve by May 1. It is a lifelong posture of listening. But the deadline is a real grace - it forces the question.

Faith Lens for the Home: Ask your student this week - not just "where are you going?" but "what do you sense God is asking of you in this next chapter?" Then ask yourself: are you being a Philip, or are you adding to the noise? The best thing a Catholic parent can do before May 1 is sit beside their student in the chariot and ask: "Do you understand what you're reading?" And then listen.

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

St. George - April 23

A Roman soldier and early Christian martyr who chose faith over empire, executed around 303 AD. The dragon legend came later - but the truth underneath it is real: a man who faced enormous earthly power and refused to deny Christ. Patron of England, soldiers, and those who face impossible odds with courage.

Ask at dinner: "St. George chose his faith over his career and his life. What's the smallest way our family chooses faith over convenience or comfort this week?"

✋ One Simple Action

St. Gianna Novena Day 5 is waiting at walkingwithmoms.com/saint-gianna-novena-day-5. And today - identify one person in your life on a road, searching, not quite understanding. Say a prayer for them by name. Then consider whether you're being sent to run toward their chariot.

📚 Read More

• Pope Leo at Bata Prison: Vatican News (https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-04/pope-leo-xiv-prison-equatorial-guinea-bata-address.html)
• Ordination Class of 2026 survey: USCCB (https://www.usccb.org/news/2026/ordination-class-2026-survey-results-released-conjunction-world-day-prayer-vocations) and EWTN News (https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/adult-conversions-soar-in-dioceses-across-u-s)
• College discernment and the May 1 deadline: FOCUS guide to discernment (https://focus.org/posts/the-catholics-guide-to-discerning-your-vocation/)
• St. George: Catholic Culture (https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2026-04-23)

Someone is on a road near you, reading something they don't fully understand. The Spirit is saying: go join up with that chariot.