Gird Up the Loins of Your Minds

Homily for Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Though the first reading is styled as a letter, it is generally accepted that it is really a homily given on the occasion of a baptism. Baptism and our baptismal promises are highlighted throughout the letter. It is chosen as the first reading for the eighth and ninth weeks of Ordinary Time because these weeks ordinarily fall after Pentecost. The readings emphasize the change that has taken place through baptism in the life of believers.

As it happens this calendar year, both the eighth and ninth weeks of Ordinary Time are passed over in order to fit the constraints of a year in which Christmas and the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God fall on a Sunday. So we only read from this letter for the two days before the beginning of Lent. What can we take away from this reading?

As I was praying with this reading yesterday, I focused my attention on one statement: “Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The sacred author takes an image from the Book of Exodus when Moses instructs the Hebrew children to ready themselves for the Passover. “This is how you are to eat it (the Paschal lamb): with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you will eat it in a hurry. It is the LORD’s Passover.”

With this allusion to the Passover, Peter is making certain that the newly baptized Christians realize that their recent baptism, like the Passover of their ancestors, has set them apart as God’s chosen ones. They are to live soberly, aware that Jesus may soon return, setting their hopes on the grace that has been theirs the Holy Spirit which they received in baptism. On this day before Ash Wednesday, I think the message is particularly apt.