Inspiration
- Michael Haldas
- 18 minutes ago
- 3 min read
“The word "inspire" means, literally, "to breathe upon," and the word "spirituality," which is at the root of the word "inspire," means the state of having been breathed upon. For this reason, the one who lives a life "in the Spirit", is one who has been breathed upon. This is one who has received the Holy Spirit as his life's inspiration. The 20th chapter of John tells us that the Apostles locked themselves in a room fearful that Christ's persecutors would crucify them as well. Suddenly, the Risen Christ appears before them and offers them His peace. Then John writes, "He breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' (Jn.20:22)…That the cowering Apostles are in need of inspiration is apparent. They are fearful and confused…Then Jesus comes to fulfill their need. Now inspired, their lives take on new meaning and purpose….they do not receive their inspiration from within themselves. Their personality transformation, from timid and aimless men into bold and vigorous disciples, is generated from without. Jesus breathed the life of the Spirit into them. And that Holy Spirit, that Giver of Life, that Comforter, that Spirit of truth, filled everything and was everywhere. That Holy Spirit was their source of power and transformation, and is ours as well today…Along with recognizing the Holy Spirit as this source of joy and hope and power we also learn another deep truth concerning inspiration in our lives: we must be prepared to receive it.” (Fr. James C. Moulketis)
“The Holy Spirit is God dwelling in us. The Spirit reminds us of the teaching of the Lord, testifies to the truth of the Gospel, sanctifies, empowers, inspires and gives us spiritual gifts for ministry and service…The Holy Spirit is according to the Church not a function, but one of the persons of the Trinity in the same way that God the Father has personhood and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ also has personhood. The Holy Spirit is equal in the substance of His godliness and divinity to the Father and the Son, yet He is unique as person…The Holy Spirit inspires us to repent and turn back to God. And likewise when we see our sins and justify them rather than changing our way of life, that is a sign that we are rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. A very dangerous way to live, because we do not know when and if we will have the time necessary to properly repent in the future.” (Fr. Basil, Fr. Jame Guirguis)
“At one moment, Peter is speaking by inspiration from the Father [Matthew 16:16], and in the next moment, he is speaking by the inspiration of the devil [Matthew 16:22-23].” (Matthew the Poor)
“When we are defeated, our invisible enemies inspire guilt in us for our failure; [and] this leads to lethargy in our labor of prayer, doubt in its effectiveness, and the desire to stop praying and go instead and do good works before the eyes of all men. Let us not fall prey to this lie! Let us open our wound with self-denial and lack of shame before our All-Good and All-Powerful Physician, Who commanded this salvific lack of shame and promised to crown it with the defeat of our enemies [See Luke 18:1-8]. Let us lay down this promise in our soul: until our last breath never to leave the labor of prayer, and pass from it into eternity.” (St. Ignatii Brianchaninov)
“All the inspiration to attain the Kingdom of Heaven comes from the awareness of our spiritual poverty, which helps us humble our spirit and depend our life on Him Who is able to save us. In the crisis we are now going through, we perceive the fragility and vanity of this life, which the wise Solomon expressed with lofty words (Eccles. 1:2). This very important awareness will enable us to take the right step and seek for the indestructible life (Heb. 7:15) for which we are destined.” (Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou)
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