“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me,” says Jesus in the “Good Shepherd” Sunday gospel, while "Exploring the Word" author Alice Camille reminds readers that “The shepherd calls you.” In the frantic aftermath . . .

The psalmist this Sunday attests to a truth at the center of the Judeo-Christian tradition: God “made us, his we are.” The U.S. Supreme Court this week grappled with the question of whether something as intrinsic to nature as a human gene be patented? . . .

The reading from the Book of Revelation takes a pretty optimistic view of the “great multitude” the author envisioned standing before the throne of the Lamb: “They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them.” Research suggests . . .

This Sunday’s first reading from Acts of the Apostles is about competing visions of community: Paul and Barnabas, rejected by their own community, reach out to a wider public receptive to their message. Faith communities of all kinds face competition from a new source. Atheists are gathering on Sundays for events that include many elements that mirror traditional church services.

“If I did not believe . . . that the works of mercy do lighten the sum total of suffering in the world, the problem of evil would indeed be overwhelming.”

Economists at Stanford University and the University of Chicago estimate that between 1960 and 2008, 15 to 20 percent of growth in U.S. productivity came from removing workforce barriers for Anglo women and both African American women and men.