{"id":17619,"date":"2018-12-21T09:18:50","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T14:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17619"},"modified":"2018-12-21T09:37:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T14:37:24","slug":"kenosis-letting-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17619","title":{"rendered":"Kenosis: Letting Go"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Richard Rohr<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Kenosis: Letting Go<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Friday, December 21, 2018<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PdY6NXlkdsg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n[Contemplative] practices beckon earthbound bodies toward an expanded receptivity to holiness. . . . Receptivity is not a cognitive exercise but rather the involvement of intellect and senses in a spiritual reunion and oneness with God. . . . [The] contemplative moment is a spiritual event that kisses the cognitive but will not be enslaved to its rigidities. \u2014Barbara Holmes [1]<br \/>\nOver the past two weeks I\u2019ve shared how contemplation is a way (or many ways) of opening our hearts, minds, and bodies to God\u2019s presence. It helps us recognize and surrender our egoic, small self and live into our True Self, made in the image and likeness of God.<br \/>\nCynthia Bourgeault, one of CAC\u2019s core faculty members, describes the power of contemplative practices such as Centering Prayer to instill in us the mind of Christ.<br \/>\n[Centering Prayer\u2019s] simple but powerful pathway of transformation illumines . . . what it means to \u201cput on the mind of Christ.\u201d . . . The theological basis for Centering Prayer lies in the principle of kenosis, Jesus\u2019s self-emptying love that forms the core of his own self-understanding and life practice. . . .<br \/>\nSaint Paul explains this principle by way of his beautiful hymn in Philippians 2:6-11, prefacing his comments by saying, \u201cLet the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus\u201d:<br \/>\nThough his state was that of God,<br \/>\nyet he did not deem equality with God<br \/>\nsomething he should cling to.<br \/>\nRather he emptied himself,<br \/>\nand assuming the state of a slave,<br \/>\nhe was born in human likeness. . . .<br \/>\nThe phrase \u201cemptied himself\u201d in line 4 is the English translation of the Greek verb kenosein, which is where the word kenosis comes from. In context, you\u2019ll see exactly what it means: it\u2019s the opposite of the word \u201ccling\u201d in line 3. Jesus is practicing gentle release. And he continues to practice it in every moment of his life, as the next verse of the hymn makes clear:<br \/>\nHe being known as one of us<br \/>\nhumbled himself obedient unto death,<br \/>\neven death on a cross.<br \/>\nHow beautifully simple\u2014the path of Jesus hidden right there in plain sight! While some Christians are still reluctant to think of Jesus as teaching a path (isn\u2019t it enough simply to be the Son of God?), in fact, the Gospels themselves make clear that he is specifically inviting us to this journey and modeling how to do it. Once you see this, it\u2019s the touchstone throughout all his teaching: Let go! Don\u2019t cling! Don\u2019t hoard! Don\u2019t assert your importance! Don\u2019t fret. \u201cDo not be afraid, little flock, it is your Father\u2019s good pleasure to give you the kingdom!\u201d (Luke 12:32).<br \/>\nAnd it\u2019s this same core gesture we practice in Centering Prayer: thought by thought by thought. You could really summarize Centering Prayer as kenosis in meditation form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Rohr Kenosis: Letting Go Friday, December 21, 2018 [Contemplative] practices beckon earthbound bodies toward an expanded receptivity to holiness. . . . Receptivity is not a cognitive exercise but rather the involvement of intellect and senses in a spiritual reunion and oneness with God. . . . [The] contemplative moment is a spiritual event [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17619"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17619"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17622,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17619\/revisions\/17622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}