A humble attitude open to emptying for others

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present the self emptying of Jesus as an invitation for us to accept the grace for our own kenotic spirituality.

Self emptying grace

The Letter to the Philippians uses a hymn to praise the kenosis of Jesus in becoming fully human.

* [2:5] Have…the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus: or, “that also Christ Jesus had.” While it is often held that Christ here functions as a model for moral imitation, it is not the historical Jesus but the entire Christ event that Phil 2:6–11 depict. Therefore, the appeal is to have in relations among yourselves that same relationship you have in Jesus Christ, i.e., serving one another as you serve Christ (Phil 2:4).

The Gospel from Luke reminds us that the rejection of Jesus invitation may remove us from participation in His banquet of life for all people.

* [14:15–24] The parable of the great dinner is a further illustration of the rejection by Israel, God’s chosen people, of Jesus’ invitation to share in the banquet in the kingdom and the extension of the invitation to other Jews whose identification as the poor, crippled, blind, and lame (Lk 14:21) classifies them among those who recognize their need for salvation, and to Gentiles (Lk 14:23). A similar parable is found in Mt 22:1–10.

Mike Cherney sees these passages showing the gifts that flow when our identities grow less out of what we possess and more out of an imitation of Christ, the ultimate servant-leader.

My prayer today involves shifting my concerns to that which really matters.
Dear Lord,Forgive me for the times that I put my ego and my worldly treasures before humility and service.Forgive me for my moments of despair and my failure to trust.Help me to remember that a community flourishes when it is grounded in service and respect.Guide me in seeing where I should be heading and how I should be spending my time.

Don Schwager quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the theme that God's grace is free and costly.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who died for his faith under the Nazi persecution of Jews and Christians, contrasted cheap grace and costly grace: "Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves... the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance... grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate... Costly grace is the Gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."

Robert E. Sylvester connects Dietrich Bonhoeffer costly grace and the modern day monasticism of Thomas Merton.

For some the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer may fit.  If so, think of Merton as a source of understanding as to detachment, modern day monasticism, the relationship between faith and freedom, contemplation, a life with God at the center.

Friar Jude Winkler unpacks the Greek “morphe” referring to Jesus and His kenosis. Emptying Himself to the point of dying was the exaltation and glory of the Cross. Friar Jude notes in Luke the leaders who have rejected Jesus have not earned the invitation that is a gracious gift.

Daniel Izuzquiza, S.J., writes about the revolutionary descent (kenotic spirituality) of Dorothy Day.

Her faith-and-justice synthesis displayed itself in three specific practices of descent with revolutionary consequences: she opened her eyes (and other persons’ as well) to the struggle for justice; she became part of the life of the poor; she embodied this message in her public life, in prison and on the street.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Fyodor Dostoyevsky as he discusses that belief systems have their place; they provide a necessary and structured beginning point, just as the dualistic mind is good as far as it goes. But then we need the nondual or mystical mind to love and fully experience limited ordinary things and to peek through the cloud to glimpse infinite and seemingly invisible things. This is the contemplative mind that can “know spiritual things in a spiritual way,” as Paul says (1 Corinthians 2:13).

Love [people] even in [their] sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you have perceived it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.

Fr Richard’s conclusion is fitting for today. The work of spirituality is to look with a different pair of nondual eyes, beyond what Thomas Merton calls “the shadow and the disguise” [2] of things until we can see them in their connectedness and wholeness. In a very real sense, the word “God” is just a synonym for everything. So if you do not want to get involved with everything, stay away from God.

References

"Philippians, chapter 2 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops." Accessed November 6, 2018. http://www.usccb.org/bible/philippians/2.
"Luke, chapter 14 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops." Accessed November 6, 2018. http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/14.
"Creighton U Daily Reflections ...." Accessed November 6, 2018. http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html.
"Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations." Accessed November 6, 2018. https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/.
"Bonhoeffer, Merton and You | Spirlaw." Accessed November 6, 2018. https://spirlaw.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/bonhoeffer-merton-and-you/.
"Kenotic revolution, revolutionary descent: The Spiritual Politics of ...." Accessed November 6, 2018. https://www.cristianismeijusticia.net/sites/default/files/pdf/en135.pdf.
"2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation." Accessed November 6, 2018. https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/.