In this Sunday’s first reading, the Lord promises the people that he “will console them and guide them”; the time of tears is not forever. Joe Biden, still grieving the death of his son Beau from brain cancer . . .

When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion, “we were like men dreaming” says the psalmist this Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was widely criticized for comments made at a Zionist Congress, where critics say he dreamed up the idea that a Palestinian leader . . .

In this Sunday’s gospel, blind Bartimaeus was “rebuked” by many who told him “to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more.” Early activists against global warning were often treated in similar fashion, but as the evidence has mounted . . .

The Lord promises, in the first reading this Sunday, to guide the people “so that none shall stumble.” A major security stumble at the CIA has allowed hackers to access the private email account of no less than CIA Director John Brennan. . . .

Seventeen-year-old Valerie Herrera, a senior at Cristo Rey high school in Chicago, received the rare opportunity to ask Pope Francis a question via satellite on national television several weeks prior to the pope’s first visit to the United States.

It is said Helen Keller was once asked if there was anything worse than being blind. She replied, “Having no vision.”

There are more than 50 million people with disabilities in the U.S.–about 20 percent of the population. They are roughly twice as likely as the general population to live below the poverty line.