The master of the house in the longer version of Sunday's gospel reading wonders why the fearful servant didn't put the money entrusted to him in a bank. People in Iceland and other countries, however, are wondering why they did. . . .

The psalmist promises the reverent they will enjoy the blessings of family, with "your children like olive plants around your table." Sadly, these days many overweight children bear little resemblance to slender olive plants. . . .

"Let her works praise her at the city gates," says the Book of Proverbs this Sunday in extolling the virtues of the worthy woman. This week activists worldwide extolled the virtues of Miriam Makeba, the South African singer  . . .

All of us "are children of the light" affirms the reading from First Thessalonians this Sunday. In that spirit of universal respect, the first meeting at the Vatican of a Roman Catholic-Muslim Forum, which concluded last Thursday . . .

The wise husband realizes a loving wife is worth more than pearls, the reading from Proverbs tells us. But that doesn't mean pearls aren't valuable in their own right--especially when they are found in a 2,000-year-old gold earring such as the one archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority discovered . . .

"You don't show up for me, America doesn't show up for you."

Of the 2,880 religious discrimination complaints the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received last year, twice as many--607--came from Muslims as from any other religious group.