Kénosis, music with sense to the SenseContemporary Catholic music. Paths of witness and evangelizationThe components of Kénosis do not define themselves as a musical group; they prefer to speak of apostolate. They turn their prayer into songs, so that the 32 members who come together to compose and sing make the gift of music a task that they put "at the service of the Church".
Kénosis has just released "Cuando Él reina", the first single from their new album "Don y tarea". In this interview with Omnes they share their creative process and show the richness that Catholic music can bring to one's prayer life.
What inspired the theme of this first single and why have you decided to make it the first track you release from the album?
- The inspiration is an encounter with Christ, which occurred in a moment of prayer that the community had during an activity of the Kingdom of Christ. For us, as apostles of the Kingdom, we were praying and asking ourselves in what we place our security. From that prayer a very beautiful reflection was born, because we discovered that God gives us a gift and entrusts us with a task. With the song we emphasized that call to follow Christ, realizing that what is impossible for man is possible for God, and we wanted it to be the first one on the album because it shows the essence of the Regnum Christi.
What role do Regnum Christi's own spirituality and faith play in your creative process?
- In the process we are very clear that the protagonist is God. Our purpose is to evangelize, rather than being a musical group we are a apostolate of Regnum Christi and our purpose is to bring God to others through music. Therefore, any song we compose must be born of prayer, it is prayer made song.
How do you manage the collaboration between the different members of the group to ensure that each brings his or her personal stamp without losing the unity of the message?
- We are a family and we all identify in our hearts a seed placed by God, who calls us to evangelize through music. As we all have this desire in our hearts, it makes it easier to be available. We identify this apostolate as a gift and a task, which facilitates respect, availability and organization.
What makes your new album unique within the Catholic music genre?
- More than something different, our album complements very well the call of the Church. There are many people composing very good things, so our goal is not to offer something better than the rest, but something that shows that complementarity and is a response to correspond to the Church and the gift of God. We want to give ourselves through this task.
What can Catholic music offer today's young people?
- Catholic music that is born of prayer allows people to pray through it. That facilitates the creation of a community and an encounter with Christ, which is something young people thirst for. Also, thanks to music we can put words to what we are feeling even when we don't know exactly what it is.
In the specific case of our new album, with each song we want to accompany a type of prayer. We want the young people to find in the songs a message that is pleasing to the ear and that Jesus reaches them through the music.
How do you relate this to the album title, "Gift and Task"?
- We have received the gift of being able to express ourselves through music. Like any gift, this brings with it a responsibility, it demands a response. We have decided to put this gift at the service of the Church, which is now embodied in this new album.
In what ways do you consider that music strengthens your spirituality and your relationship with God?
- Many times when words are not enough, music can express what you carry in your heart. Music can unite us to God in some way and can even help us to identify things that we carry inside because the lyrics of a song touch us in a special way. On the other hand, thanks to music we can enter into communion with other people. The prayer of others, made into a song, also becomes our prayer.
For us, as Kenosis, we are aware that more than a musical group, we are participants in the ministry of music. As the Church militant, we are asked to unite with the angels and the Church triumphant. We are called to be one in the communion of saints, to be Church in that communion. Thanks to this ministry of music, we can see Heaven touch Earth and bring Earth closer to Heaven.
