Kenosis: The Self-Emptying of God - Part 1

Bishop Sheen begins this profound meditation by introducing the theological concept of kenosis, or God "emptying Himself." To illustrate the sheer magnitude of this act, he uses a startling analogy: imagine the humility required for a human to put their soul into the body of a dog, limiting their expression to barking and their actions to instinct. The distance between God and man is infinitely greater, yet this is precisely what Christ did. By becoming a slave and taking on human flesh, God humbled Himself in a way that is almost incomprehensible, laying the foundation for our redemption by choosing to experience our limitations and frailties.

The core of Christ's mission, Sheen explains, was the "transfer" of humanity's burdens onto Himself. He breaks this down into three categories of evil: physical, mental, and moral. Christ took on our physical ills not by being sick, but by feeling our pain through a deep, divine sympathy, which is why He "sighed" and "wept" before performing miracles. He took on our mental ills—our doubts, loneliness, and despair—by crying out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", making our darkest question His own. Most importantly, He took on our moral ill of sin, illustrated by the powerful story of a soldier on the Burma Road who falsely took the blame for a missing shovel to save his comrades from execution, just as the innocent Christ took our guilt upon Himself.

Ultimately, Bishop Sheen calls the listener to participate in this redemptive work. Just as Christ transferred our burdens, we are called to transfer the burdens of others onto ourselves through prayer and sacrifice. Using the moving example of a prostitute who returned to the confessional after he asked hundreds of penitents to pray for her, he demonstrates the real-world power of intercession. The Christian life, therefore, is not a passive admiration of a teacher, but an active relationship with a Savior. The path to this relationship is through the Gospels, where we come to know the person of Christ and begin to understand the depths of His self-emptying love for us.