“Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,” counsels this Sunday’s reading from the First Letter of Peter. President Barack Obama Sunday defended his statement last week that an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord . . .

In this Sunday’s psalm response, all the earth is encouraged to “cry out to God with joy.” But in Joplin, Missouri there are mostly cries of sorrow this week in the wake of Sunday’s devastating tornado . . .

In his farewell discourse to his worried disciples in this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus promises not to abandon them, vowing to send an Advocate. A Republican proposal to cut Medicare coverage has many seniors worried they will be abandoned, but advocates for the plan . . .

The people of Samaria “paid attention” to Philip and the signs he performed, relates Sunday’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Many were cured and there was “great joy in that city.” A woman who suffered total memory loss in a household accident relearned many behaviors by paying attention to cues from others. . . .

"Oprah Winfrey is so powerful that she had the Rapture postponed until after her final show airs."

More than 2,500 people were killed in militant attacks in Pakistan in 2010. Nearly half of the victims were civilians killed in suicide blasts. At least 900 people died in U.S. drone strikes during the same period, and an estimated 600-700 were killed by the Pakistani army.