S03 E13 – Book Study Part 2 – How Can We Foster Inspiration?

Episode Timestamps:

00:00 – 00:14 = Intro Snippet

00:23 – 00:43 = Podcast intro

00:44 – 00:57 = Greeting with Padre

00:58 – 01:15 = Foster inspirations

01:16 – 02:36 = 1st Practice praise and thanksgiving

02:37 – 02:56 = 2nd Desire and asking themself

02:57 – 05:53 = 3rd Resolve to Refuse God

05:54 – 07:28 = 4th Practice and Trust

07:29 – 10:48 = 5th Practicing abandonment

10:49 – 15: 29 = 6th Practice Detachment

15:30 – 20:38 = 7th Practicing Silence and Peace

20:39 – 22:58 = 8th Faithfully In Prayers

22:59 – 34:39 = 9th is examining the movement of hearts

34:40 = Closing

#1 Practice Praise and Thanksgiving

  • Gratitude – thanking God for all his blessings – because we are first receivers and he is the giver, our first response to that SHOULD be thankfulness – if we can’t get that right, we won’t get anything else that comes after that. But also, If you notice what happens to you when someone expresses gratitude towards you when you’ve done something for them is that not only is the gift you’ve given then been valued but it also encourages you to want to give more. That’s just a model of God’s love, the more we receive and a grateful for his gifts, the more he wants to give us – He can never be outdone in generosity. 

#2 Desire and Ask for them

  • Ask for what we need – but do we also ask for more inspirations, and help to be docile to those inspirations? Ask to be docile to the movements of the Holy Spirit.

#3 Resolve to refuse God nothing

  • This is NOT saying, commit to giving God everything without fail – we are human. But say to God ‘I spare you nothing’. We surrender control, and receive the gifts God wants, and how he wants us to use them.  

#4 Practice filial and trusting obedience 

  • This includes being obedient to the things we’re called into – the commandments, our state in life, our vocations, jobs, family commitments, community commitments, friendships etc. Wherever he has placed us, we have obligations of love around us to be dutiful towards, and ignoring these and asking for other special inspirations is not pleasing to God and doesn’t create a path for more to be given to us like Jesus says in Luke 19:26. 
  • Be present to the immediate vocation God has called us into.

#5 Practice Abandonment

  • In the case of ‘events’ Jacque Philippe draws attention to the challenges and difficulties in life and whether we consider them ‘God’s will’ in so far as God desires for this pain and difficulty to occur to us. Rather, it’s more truthful that God ‘permits’ these things to happen so that he can draw something even better out of it, first for our sake, then for others. To draw something good out of it. But in order for that to happen, he relies on our ability to trust him and to abandon ourselves to him. Therese of Lisiuex would say ‘I choose it all’ which he helps translate to mean ‘I decide to choose what I have not chosen’. (p34)

#6 Practice Detachment 

  • Attachment to material possessions, our ideas and our point of view.
  • It’s easier to detach from material things – go without certain things, especially with Lent being like an annual training ground BUT letting go of our thinking patterns, and our unhelpful desires, now THAT is much, much harder to give up.
  • We will never learn anything, if we can’t let go of the thought that ‘I already know it’. 
  • A kind of detachment where ‘if some particular thing, or habit, or relationship, or personal plan is taken from us, we don’t make a drama out of being deprived of it’ (p35). Sounds straight forward but a tall order. 
    • Maybe the thing is loss of health
    • Habit is the inability to go to work 
    • Relationships – e.g. the death of a loved one
    • Personal plan – e.g. infertility

#7 Practice silence and peace

  • Spirit of Peace – God moves peacefully and gently, never in disarray and tumult, but he only enters a space that is calm and waiting for him in silence and in prayer – he’s not a rude and an unwelcome guest that barges in into our hearts, he only enters to move in the hearts that want him to come and move and prepare a place for him to do so. 
  • Maintain a peaceful heart at all times (p37) – Not easy ‘but by practising hope in God, abandonment, humility, and the acceptance of our inner poverty through an unshakable trust in God’s mercy, we will reach peace little by little’. 
  • Become protective over that which threatens us to lose our inner peace 
  • Daily examine – is a great place to begin observing where the peace gets lost – what are the circumstances, environments, time of day, people associated, information we consume – that threaten the loss of our inner peace 
  • If it’s a person or group – perhaps because they’re always wanting to argue about the faith, or they swear a lot, or engage in addictions and it really leaves you restless, and frustrated and in turmoil on the inside – pull back on the amount of time you might spend with them, or pull back all together (But don’t go overboard here and become a hermit) either way – work on a plan to be able to protect that inner place so that you can re-engage in conversation with that person or group, albeit maybe in a different way or setting that with further detachment for you.  

#8 Persevere faithfully in prayer

  • Acquired little by little through prayer. Days you don’t want to – ‘just do it’.

#9 Examine the movements of our hearts 

  • Pay attention to the ‘movements’ of our hearts – learn to discern the difference between ‘nature, influence of evil, and the movements of the Holy Spirit’. 
  • Nature – we all have a story, biological influences 
  • Influence of evil – there is power actively working to pull us down and sometimes it is disguised as good
  • Holy Spirit – wanting to inspire and bear good fruit 

This is a bit by bit thing, it’s not something you read over night and now you can see the difference between the three, it’s something you have to live through and experience and learn by living it out. 

Recognition demands vigilance, but don’t fall into the trap of naval gazing. 

#10 Open our hearts to a spiritual director, or mentorship

  • To gain clarity 
  • God Blesses this opening because it’s an act of humility (p43) and pray asking God to send someone – he won’t refuse that which is good for us. 
  • Don’t hold it to yourself – share it, be selective who you share it with, but sharing inspirations with a select few people can help gain clarity, see things you missed and can help confirm whether your inspirations are purely an effect of nature, influence of evil or the work of the Holy Spirit. 
  • God Blesses this opening because it’s an act of humility (p43) and pray asking God to send someone

TBG

Stina – Called ambulance to the house. Priest friend coincidently saw police outside, but they weren’t involved. The scenario did provide the chance for the patient to get a blessing though.

Padre‘The Hound of Heaven’ by Francis Thompson

If you enjoy our Show Notes, you can listen to our Living Fullness Podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, directly from our website or watch our guest interviews on YouTube! Also check out our social media pages Living Fullness Podcast on Instagram , the closed Facebook group for links and discussions, and Virtue Ministry on Facebook and Instagram.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*