The Importance of Inspiration

Quick now. Can you name off the top-of-your head someone or something like an activity or a piece of art, which inspired you to make a major change in your life? Do you need more time to think of a name or several? 

I recommend a practice you can do periodically to list the names of people or events which inspired a change in your life. This is really a spiritual practice. To make this acknowledgement does a lot for the soul. When you examine why someone inspired you and why it has remained with you over many years, perhaps, there is a grace in the inspiration, something God wanted you to see, to feel, to possibly imitate. Have you fulfilled that vision or inclination you caught in that inspiration; have you lived that gift that made the inspiration so palpable?

Some of this year’s Tony Award Nominees shared the inspirations that brought them to a professional life in the theatre. Some shared about people who inspired them; some shared events and experiences that inspired them. Leslie Odom, Jr. recalled playing Martin Luther King in a kindergarten play. He had memorized four lines and while reciting them spotted his father and grandmother in the front row looking so proud—almost as if he had won the Nobel Peace Prize. Jonathan Groff played the role of Sandy, Little Orphan Annie’s dog when he was four years old. He remembers the audience laughing as he moved his ‘doggie head’ around and he was hooked forever. At age 13, Bebe Neuwirth saw the musical Pippin and without even knowing one thing about dancing decided to become a dancer because the movements resonated with her and as she said, “I knew that I was watching an aspect of myself when I saw that.” 

Other nominees shared that exceptional actors inspired them. Sarah Paulson recalled her mother taking her to see the play, A Doll’s House, which starred Janet McTeer. Paulson noted that when McTeer walked on stage, it was like “watching a lightning bolt.” At the age of ten, Jim Parsons first saw Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. He became enamored of acting and realized as he got older that “what I connected to was (Hoffman’s) playfulness.” 

We all have inspirational heroes and inspirational experiences in life which we need to honor and occasionally recall because in some way these persons and experiences are still with us, crafting our souls into the image of God—because they are part of something God planted within us and we needed them to help bring that gift forward. If you are Catholic, you probably remember reading or being told stories of saints and these inspired you to do something similar to what they did.

I have an expanding list of people in religion, politics, the arts who inspire me. Here’s a small portion of my list. First, St. Vincent de Paul, the saint of charity and an inspiration to St. Elizabeth Seton, my congregation’s foundress. I saw the award-winning foreign film of his life when I was ten years old and decided to become a Sister of Charity, so moved was I of Vincent’s charism. Second, Sister Blandina Segale, SC, of my community who is going through the process of canonization. Her life and her simple, unwavering commitment to those on the margins have always been a source of guidance for me. Plus, she was so adventurous in the Wild West! Several political leaders have made my list but I’ll only mention Liz Cheney, the courageous Republican Congresswoman who continues to stand up for moral leadership and integrity at the expense of her seat in congress, and Rusty Bowers, the former Speaker of the House for Arizona and staunch Republican who refused to engage in the unconstitutional attempt urged by Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump to overturn the presidential elections of 2020 in his state. His home address was given by a colleague and as his daughter lay dying of cancer in his living room, mean and angry protesters spewed hatred for him at his front door. He lost a run for the Arizona senate later. Those are just a few of my inspirational heroes. 

Reflection

Jesus was and still is an inspirational phenomenon. He certainly had an aura that touched each apostle and follower. Two characters figure mysteriously in the Christian Scriptures for their subversive attempts to get to know Jesus who truly inspired them, but the inspiration was secret. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin whose first visit with Jesus, in the shadows of the night, is recounted with a teaching on the life of the Spirit. Later in John, Nicodemus speaks up courageously for the temple guards who are taken with the message of Jesus and challenged by the chief priests. He last appears in the Gospel at the death of Jesus where he brings a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes for the burial. Nicodemus has come full circle. Zaccheus is a wealthy tax collector who scrambles up a sycamore tree to get a look at Jesus, the teacher who has been doing miraculous things for people. Zaccheus is despised by the high priests and the people, but he tells Jesus over supper that he gives to the poor and pays back fourfold anyone he has defrauded. Neither man was an apostle nor even recognized as a disciple of Jesus. Just common men caught by the inspiration Jesus exuded, the truth that God loved them. They turned their lives around based on that inspiration.

For this week, read and reflect on these scriptures: 

Nicodemus in John 3:1-10; 7:50-53; 19:30-42. Zaccheus in Luke 19:1-10.

Make a list of what or who has inspired you in a major way in your life. I hope some of you will share this with our readers.