Tuesday, 3, 4/ 14
In the first reading Peter, our first pope, told us to gird
the loins of our minds. People back then habitually wore something loose
fitting until they had to get serious. Then, they girded their loins. For lent
Peter told us to gird the loins of our minds..
Something said by Paul, Peter’s counterpart, sets the stage
for lent. Or at least, what he said in Roman’s 6:10, tells us why Jesus went
into the desert to be tempted for forty days.
Speaking of Our Lord’s death, what Paul wrote was, “His
death was a death to sin.”
We love that Christmas carol “Away in a Manger.” It
says, “The little Lord Jesus has come for to die.”
His whole mission was one of offering his life for us, of
dying; but the horrible physical aspects of that death were not of value. Two
criminals at his sides underwent the same physical horrors.
No, as Paul pointed out: it was his death to sin, to every
last bit of selfishness, that rescued us from damnation.
Immediately following his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus went
into the desert for a forty-day struggle against sin and selfishness. That was
how he heroically began his life’s mission, As his followers, we are now committed
to enter into these forty days intent on dying to our selfishness.
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