“This son of mine was dead, and has come to life again,” declares the father on the return of his younger son in this Sunday’s gospel. The reverse was true for an elderly resident of an assisted-living facility who fell to the floor . . .

This Sunday’s second reading assures us that “whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away.” After early intensive treatment with antiviral drugs, a baby . . .

This Sunday’s first reading informs us that once the Israelites were able to eat “of the yield of the land of Canaan” they stopped receiving manna from heaven. War-torn Iraq has received the manna of some $60 billion in U.S. reconstruction-funding . . .

“When the poor one called out, the Lord heard,” the psalmist affirms this Sunday, “the lowly will hear me and be glad.” Hugo Chávez, 58, the fiery populist leader of Venezuela and hero to the nation’s poor for the past 14 years, died Tuesday . . .

“The father’s compassion [in the gospel parable of the two sons] offers both children the chance to become unstuck.”

Between 2001 and 2010-2011, U.S. defense spending rose from $287 billion to $700 billion, including supplemental costs for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Annually the U.S. spends $250 billion more on the military than on Medicare.