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.
Why do we gird up our minds, live soberly and set our hopes on Jesus? The motivation Peter described was found the fact that Jesus himself was the fulfillment of the predictions of the prophets, something that they desired to see but did not fully discern. Even the angels longed to see the things that finally came about in the person of Jesus himself. He was the fulfillment, not only the more or less explicit prophecies of the prophets of ancient Israel, but also of the desires of every individual human heart. He was the trajectory toward which all of history had been moving, the center point without which there could be nothing but eventual collapse and disappointment.
If all of history was moving toward Jesus himself as to its fulfillment, we too are called to discover the possibility of our own fulfillment in him. In Jesus alone can we find the purpose for which we were made, the logic that makes the difficulties of this world not only bearable, but finally worth it. The whole field of our lives is more than a fair trade for the pearl of great price.
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
In the Kingdom we receive many spiritual blessings. We gain new houses, both those of our brothers and sisters who welcome us into their homes, and our the churches were we come together to celebrate. We gain new spiritual brothers and sisters as God himself adopts us as his own children. We gain new mothers, both Mary herself and the Church, guiding our growth and nourishing us. It is true that persecutions are an inevitable part of this reality. That is why we must gird up our minds, live soberly and set our hopes. Then we can be unshaken by circumstances, knowing that the promised fulfillment more than outweighs the trials.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.
If we try too hard to have it all now, to acquire fulfillment in our timing and on our terms, we will never really find it at all. The tighter we grasp after it the more it will slip through our fingers. We are called to seek first Jesus and his Kingdom. We should believe him that he will give us all us besides, but leave it in his hands to do so as he himself wills.
Like obedient children,
do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance
but, as he who called you is holy,
be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct,
Our former ignorance caused us to chase pleasure and avoid pain. We tended to love things and use people. We put our own happiness at the top of our list of priorities. We are now called to a different and more enlightened approach that reflects that self-less love that we ourselves have first experienced from God in the person of Jesus himself.
Be holy because I am holy.
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