The power of God’s word—both now and to come—and what creation does with that word: Such are two of the themes of this week’s readings.

Good parents are, by nature or necessity, persistent people. They call and call us to the dinner table until we straggle in. They nag us about our homework until the last worksheet is covered with the appropriate words and numbers.

Winters can be tough in northern climates; they can wear a lot of us down. Shut in. Stalled cars. Slippery and dangerous falls. Week after week from Thanksgiving to Easter winter seems to linger. Scarves cover faces, eyes are cast down. We share little or no contact with each other as we hurry through the elements.

If you're a farmer or gardener and you checked to see if the corn you planted at winter’s end was at least “knee-high by the 4th of July,” it will surely be ready for your table by next month.

Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

Just as at sea those who are carried away from the direction of the harbor bring themselves back on course by a clear sign . . . so scripture may guide those adrift on the sea of life back into the harbor of the divine will.