DAILY INSPIRATIONS

Daily Inspiration with Fr Sanctus Mario 24

There are times in life when we go about feeling depressed, guilty and inferior about ourselves. Sometimes this happens when we look down on ourselves either because we think we are not valued, or because of our past mistakes. Sometimes we go about with an already defeated mentality and failure stricken mind, thinking so low of our image. There are moments we continue to think and center on the things we did not do well, which now affect everything we do. This type of mentality is called victim mentality. With this type of attitude, you can never make any progress in life, because your negative self image and outlook will continue to affect you.

When God created us, He did not create us with a victim mentality. You imagined how surprised God was when He asked Adam where are you, and Adam responded that He heard the voice of the Lord and hid himself. Then God knows something is wrong because He knows quite well, this is not part of the man He created. We are meant to conquerors, overcomers and achievers and not otherwise. So do not go about beating yourself up, thinking so low of yourself, concentrating your energy on the past hurts, your past mistakes and the things you didn’t do well. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Many have already accepted that they are condemned already maybe because of their sins or because of their pasts. Some have branded themselves as never doing well. When we think our past is not good, let us learn to approach God and seek His mercy, the moment we make decisions to turn back to God, He is always there to accept us again.

Instead of believing that you are condemned , believe more that the mercy of God surrounds you always. Instead of moving about thinking that God has abandoned and hated you, move about believing that He is there for you leading you always with His mighty right Hand. Sometimes we believe more lies easily from the accuser than we believe that God is with us. Instead of moving about with a victim mentality, move about with victory mentality; declare God’s favour wherever you are, He will surely see you through. Seek the mercy of God and be made well again. Quit moving about again thinking God has your pasts in His mind. That you are hated etc. The only person that will continue to remind you how bad you are,  and how dirty your past is, is the accuser of our brethren, never give him any single opportunity. Be cheerful, be hopeful, be good and be inspired.

May God continue to inspire you and make you whole again. Amen. You can drop your comments at the reply section.

Fr. Sanctus Mario

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Daily Inspiration with Fr. Sanctus Mario 23

The easiest way to truly destroy anything is to start from the root. Destroy the root or the seed of any plant, the plant is gone. Thoughts are like seeds that can give birth to anything; whether good, evil, failure and success. Whatever thoughts we harbour for a long time will one day come to fulfillment according to the mode of the thought. If we go about thinking how imperfect and worthless we are, we are invariably sowing the seed in our lives. If we know how powerful our thoughts are, we will never entertain anything negative into the mind.

Man was created in the image and likeness of God and thus a seed of the Omnipotent God, this entails that Man can never be conquered by any challenge or difficulty. What truly puts man to the sword are the negative thoughts He entertains while going through some certain circumstances. Paul says in Philippians 4:8-9 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you think is what we surely become. The true way to love God so much is to think about Him all the time. Proverbs 4:23 says Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it comes the issues of life. Mind what you think, it will surely affect you.

We put our lives at risk, when we continue to think about the things we did not do well, thinking that things will eventually go wrong, that God so much hates us, spending hours thinking about the criticisms you received or will receive from people, thinking about how worthless you are, always comparing yourself with others, the opportunities you missed, etc. Thoughts like these will always put your life to the sword. Avoid Negative thoughts like a snake, they are more poisonous than you think. In the midst of problems and challenges, if you do not know what to do, keep your mind rested in the hands of God. You will have peace and victory at last, you will be filled with inspiration on how to conquer your situations. This is why Isaiah says this  of God “You will keep Him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because He trusts in thee. (Isaiah 26:3 ). Negative thoughts can never give you a solution either. The only thing you can reap from it are fear, distress, and worry. Beloved, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

May God help you to overcome your challenges. Amen.

Fr. Sanctus Mario

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Daily Inspiration With Fr Sanctus MArio 22

The life of Jesus is filled with lessons that cannot but affect us positively. We will be baffled if we can take time to meditate on the words and actions of our Lord and His earthly Journey which came to an end today with the feast of Ascension. Jesus is the greatest motivator of all times. His life is full of motivation. When we follow His ways, there is no single task we cannot perform both spiritual and physical. Think about these:

He did not rush

Did you remember that song from one of our music legends Late Oliver De Coque “Ejighi Ike eme uwa, ihe nile bu nwayoo nwayoo” The Music Legend was trying to let the world know that things are taken gradually and not hastily. Our beloved Lord came to the world to save us, He knows He has a bigger task in Him, He knows He has a mission, I was so much impressed that Jesus did not rush immediately to Calvary, unlike what is seen today. He took time to be with the people He came to save and taught them first and showed His healing and miraculous powers for their welfare. He took time to convince them of His messianic role and when the appointed time came, He went into agony. What is truly our bane today is trying to achieve anything today and tomorrow. We want to make money today and today, we want everything to go fast. When we have a task to perform, we do not spend time to analyze it and streamline the best approaches for it. Rather we jump into it. Every long and difficult journey can be achieved if we take the course of the journey and the challenges that come with them gradually.  Hastiness to be successful put many in trouble today. It has also made many to fail because they lack the true knowledge of what they want to do. Hastiness to be successful has made many put their hands in wrong things which towards the end have affected their lives. Let us take the world easy. Do not rush, every difficult task can be totally achieved if we follow this simple step.

Jesus approached His Mission step by step

When we take time to read the life of Jesus, we can see that the journey of His life was just in steps, From birth, to the time of His youthfulness which was not actually recorded, then to the time He began His ministry. When He began His ministry, He didn’t rush either, He went for baptism,from there to the desert to prepare for the journey for 40 days and 40  nights. After this, He chose His apostles, then began to preach to the people and worked miracles in their midst. After His preaching and healing ministry, He took time to prepare his apostles for the task ahead. He then went into agony, died, resurrected and today ascended. Everything was step by step. When we take our time and divide our busy schedule, taking them step by step and following them judiciously we must go far in achieving them. Let us not rush towards the last thing, jumping the first.

One thing after the Other

Jesus did not only follow things step by step, but in that step, He took everything one after another. He did not allow anything to distract Him on this mission. After His healing and preaching ministry, Jesus faced His disciples. If you follow the readings from Monday of last week, you will see that all were admonitions from Jesus to His apostles for the task ahead. Jesus at this moment, did not go back to teach the people, He faced His apostles. From here, He journeyed to Jerusalem for the difficult journey. Then to Gethsemane. While on the Calvary journey, He remained focused. He did not go back again to start preaching in the synagogues or looking for someone to heal. He knows the next step is agony, from agony to crucifixion, to resurrection, after the resurrection, he did not rush towards towards ascension, he took His time to instruct His disciples again. After the resurrection, there was no mention of Him again arguing with the Jews nor preaching to the people, feeding the five thousand, no, those steps have been taken. From resurrection, He ascended, and then sent His spirit on the Pentecost day. Jesus taught us to take things one after another, to complete one task and face another. Every great thing you want to achieve, every great task you want to perform, everything you want to learn in this world, if taken in steps must be finally achieved.

When we were born, we didn’t start walking immediately, we first of all learnt how to sit, crawl, stand, walk and run. God is teaching us a lot of things through nature. Giant strides should be taken gradually. Do not just look at the long race, nor the long journey and give up immediately. Do not conclude yet that the task is tough, divide your actions into steps. Do not say what if I die on time, my question is “how do you know you will die on time”? and why do you still do things that will destroy your life on time? Take things gradually. You will still reach there.

May God bless you dearest and give you the grace to surge on despite your struggles and challenges. Amen. You can drop your comments in the reply section

Fr. Sanctus Mario

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                                                                                               DAILY INSPIRATION WITH FR SANCTUS MARIO 21

It is always easy to think about success and how to achieve it. Sometimes we are full of life dreams and possibilities , sometimes we have this hunger to go out there and begin something. This hunger is natural. Some truly come out to begin but what always stand in between the way to this are problems, challenges and difficulties, these you must meet. They are always there waiting for you. Sometimes we may have expectations to achieve and intentions to fulfill but when we meet barriers along the way, we go back to where we were before. Some have tried many things and after so many trials they will come back and update you that nothing is working.

I think after creation, nothing was determined to work or not work, it is the will of man and grace of God that made other things possible. If we sincerely and truly want a change in our lives, we must be ready to face whatever that comes our away and be ready to wait on God to act in His appointed time, and to make this possible; we must possess the virtue to stick to our destiny despite how thick and thin it has become and be able to have patience. Without the virtues of Perseverance and Patience, forget it you are not going anywhere. When Jesus says “ask and you shall receive, He didn’t say ask and you shall receive immediately, but He is sure that If you ask, you will receive. The only key to this promise is to keep trying, persevering and being patient. Jesus explains this better in Luke 18:1-8    a parable of the widow, who kept coming to a Judge, for legal protection , the judge has to attend to her because of her persistence and perseverance. In Luke 11:5-10 Jesus continues with a parable of a friend who goes to his friend at midnight  to request for bread. Jesus says even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. Jesus ends that parable with ““So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.“. Beloved, without patience and perseverance or persistence, forget it, this promise is not for you.

Nothing in this world, both spiritual and physical can be achieved without these two virtues. If you lack patience, you will lose faith,lose hope, become downcast, hate the day you were born, may be because of something that came along the way. Without persistence and perseverance, you will always cry and run away from challenges, the news that will always be in your lips is that “i have tried everything, yet nothing is working”.

Perseverance means not just trying, but keep trying more, hard and hard, changing strategies. You must get there. In  Psalm 40:1  David says I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. David knows the power of this virtue. In  Genesis 32:24-32 Jacob  wrestled with an angel until daybreak. He did not allow Him to win or to lose, he kept fighting. When the angel saw  that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh;  Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. This would have made Jacob to be weak and run away,yet he persevered. When the angel wanted to go, Jacob still refused and said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” This should be the attitude of everyone who really wants God to bless and intervene in His life. Be patient, yet not patient doing nothing, but patient in perseverance and persistence. Whatever thing you are doing, be patient and persevere, one day your light will shine.  May God bless you and see you through Amen. You can always drop your comments

 Fr. Sanctus Mario

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