February 29th, 2024
One of the invitations Jesus sets before us during the Lent season is that of kenosis – to join him on the humble journey through self-emptying. Kenosis, a Greek word describing the total outpouring love of God, is an enfleshed reality from the moment of the Incarnation through Jesus’ crucifixion and death. We witness God descending in loving solidarity into our human condition and no longer remaining separate from humanity but comes so near to us in the most vulnerable, ever-present way.
The emptying path of descent during this Lent season as we head towards Golgotha isn’t just for descending’s sake towards erasure. This is a radical path that is counterintuitive to what our social constructs and worldly pressures present to us as the ways to success. Jesus turns everything upside down by redefining success and glory because he knows that waiting at the bottom is the treasure of a free, abundant and awakened life. The reputations, egos, projections and public images we cling so tightly to begin to crumble, as we step into the freedom of getting out of our own ways.
In the surrender of letting go, we clear away the mental clutter and constant distractions, and what’s left for creatives is an expansive space to breathe, to perceive, to imagine and to create. The kenotic journey creates a greater capacity for receptivity in which we can behold the mystery of beauty with clear eyes and open hearts. We are shaken from our sleepwalking through life to look up and be present to the beauty and goodness thrumming through each moment. Our senses become heightened and sensitive to life itself as the great sacrament. Life itself is holy ground, exactly where our two feet are planted, for those who are paying close attention.
As creatives and makers, we are conduits in an ancient stream of deeper, more universal truths longing to be expressed through us, and when we engage with undefended hearts in the sacred act of creating, we are participating in the very life of God. We are refracting a ray of Divine Light back into this darkened world, ushering in hope and beauty for those wandering alongside us in the desert.
Katherine Smith is a visual and graphic artist, and an art teacher at a Catholic elementary school based in the westside of Cleveland, Ohio. You can find out more about her here.