Highlights
In our rope swing adventure, we touched Earth and Air. Now we submit ourselves to Water…
The difference between John the Baptist and Jesus.
We relate the kenosis of Jesus with our own expectations regarding Christmas.
Embracing and bearing the costs of love…
Guided Reflection
If possible, use headphones.
Cited Quotations
John the Baptist was in prison and had heard about what Jesus was doing. So he sent his own disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Christ who is to come, or are we waiting for someone else?”
When they had asked this Jesus replied to them, “Go and tell John about what you’ve heard and seen. The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the lepers are clean, the dead are raised and the impoverished hear the good Teaching. And happy are those who take no offense to what I say!”
John’s disciples left for the prison and Jesus continued speaking to those gathered in the street. “Let anyone who can hear me, listen carefully. When you went to see John in the wilderness, what did you expect to find? A man shaking his staff at the wind? Or maybe someone dressed in fine robes? People who wear clothes like that stay in the palace court! So then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, that and more. John is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I send my messenger ahead to prepare the way before you.
Matthew 11:2-11
The kenosis Jesus has in mind is not a stoic stance against a pitiless reality; rather, it is a direct gateway into a divine reality that can be immediately experienced as both compassionate and infinitely generous. Abundance surrounds us and sustains like the air we breathe; it is only our habitual self-protectiveness that prevents us from perceiving it. Thus, the real problem with any constrictive motion (taking, defending, hoarding, clinging) is that it makes us spiritually blind, unable to see the dance of divine generosity that is always flowing toward us.
Cynthia Bourgeault
Reflection Questions
Have you ever been dropped in a whole new milieu?
Have you ever “gone under”? How did you survive…? What brought you through…?
Do you have a sense of how different John the Baptist and Jesus were?
Have you applied kenosis to your life?
Do you periodically or occasionally have this sense of abundance…? If so, where do you feel it in your body…? How might you more deeply promote this sense…?
What might it mean to have our own pain and suffering become transfigured into a deeper tenderness…? Might we carry this differently in our bodies…?
To Go Deeper
For a deeper understanding and practice of directed prayer, I've Got You.