By Polycarp Ifeanyi and Charles Igwe
It was indeed a life changing program as Faithspiration Initiative in conjunction with Catholic Youths Organization of Nigeria ( CYON), SS John and Paul, Iba Pope Awada in Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State staged praises, worship and thanksgiving to God in appreciation for the precious gift of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The event which began with a Rosary procession was held at SS John and Paul, Iba Pope Awada arena and attracted a gathering of numerous youths and adults as well as non-Catholic worshippers to celebrate Children’s day and special devotion to Blessed Virgin Mary.
Meanwhile, the theme of the event, tagged ” Children of Mary, a Blossoming Generation” equally offered opportunity for the youth to demonstrate their love for God,
Speaking on the topic, ” Son, they have no wine” ( John 2:3), the guest speaker, Brother Polycarp Onwuka admonished the faithful that the reason why the topic of discussion held much relevance and significance in our contemporary society is that “wine” has finished in the midst of Christians, stating that the Church in the South Eastern part of Nigeria is in crises.
He said, “If you don’t see it, either you are blind or you are not in spirit because if you see the type of fight going on against the Church, and the fight is not to the adults rather, also waged against young people. Some people have used fake teachings to decieve youths and made them vamoose from the Church”
“One, the younger ones have no impact of spiritual things and that is the greatest problem in Igboland. So, it is critical that God should call us back through this words”
” The second aspect is that the economic situation of Nigeria is in shambles and leaders are confused. Every day they create one policy or the other and they can not implement it. The next day they create another policy and that has ignited confusion everywhere”
“Then, in our area, there is gross insecurity. The question is: what are we going to do in a time like this? Who will speak for us? In all parts of the world, there is confusion and war. If you look out, Russia and Ukraine are fighting as well as other countries who are fighting one country or the other and all these wars are in diverse ways which necessitated the topic: Son, they have no wine”
The speaker, Mr Onwuka proceeded to cite the Gospel of John chapter 2: 1-11, saying that on the third day, there was a wedding in Cana and Mary was there, explaining that third day is the perfect day of the Lord.
He also noted that the wedding God is talking about is not a personal wedding but the wedding between God and humanity while also representing the work of salvation between God and mankind.
Mr Onwuka who doubles as a University lecturer profoundly emphasized that Mary possess special favour from God, asserting that if you get to know Mary, you have known Jesus Christ, even as he added that Jesus Christ lived thirty years with Mary and Mary was given a special favour to intercede for all her Children,
He further explained that when Jesus was about to die at the cross, he declared a word to one of the disciples and said, “Son, look at your Mother, Woman, hold on your Son”
” If you truly want the journey of this Earth to be easy for you, you should go with Mary. So, youths, the war we are fighting is enormous. I want to tell you how to win the war. What you will do is simple; Recognize the maternal power of Mary” Brother Onwuka declared.
Expressing his Joy of the event , the initiator of Faithspiration Initiative, Rev. Fr. Dr. George Adimike poured accolades to brother Onwuka for his unambiguous preachings, saying that he was impressed with his preaching prowess.
He reminded the participants that Catholic Church have talents, disclosing that the guest preacher, Brother Polycarp Onwuka is not ordained Priest or a Religious but his preaching disposition shows that he is a Son of God who is serious with God.
“I am happy that lay faithful in the Catholic Church has come out in full force for the preaching of God’s gospel. They are no longer play wingers but strickers, attackers and Polycarp is one of them. He is from poor pagan family but God saved him to save others. God gave him influence and used money to bless him. He has social, spiritual and financial blessings. He went adult Education but he is now a University lecturer.
Fr. George rained blessings to brother Polycarp, praying that God would bless him abundantly and predicted that he would receive infinite favours and grace.
With the maiden edition of the Ave Maria Praise now ended, Faithspiration Initiative sets its eyes on other lofty projects with a second Youth forum to come in the coming weeks.
