Frank Edwin

Saturday 18 October 2026
Week 28 in Ordinary Time.
Luke 12.8-12

*THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL TEACH YOU WHAT TO SAY*

Jesus said, ‘the Holy Spirit will teach you…’. Holy Spirit is the greatest teacher, advocate and director. He is the Spirit of truth and the Counselor. We must learn to listen to Him, to identify His voice. Many people are claiming today that Holy Spirit told them this or that but He is not a Spirit of confusion. It is the Spirit of God inside us that will help us to differentiate between the true and fake. The Holy Spirit lives in every believer, and makes us cry out to God calling Him Abbah-Father. The Holy Spirit is a free gift to all in faith available to all of Abraham’s descendants as read in the letter of St. Paul to the Romans. It has power to give life to what is dead and call into being what does not exist. It is the Spirit of boldness and sound mind. We equally grow and mature in our relationship with the Spirit of God because we carry this treasure in an earthen vessel. This is why we should gradually and constantly empty ourselves of all that will sabotage our relationship with the Holy Spirit. She is equally the Spirit of love and comes to help us in our weaknesses. This is why we owe Him great honor and reverence. We receive Her according to our dispositions and preparation because the Father is willing to pour It out to all who desire Him. Without the Holy Spirit, we will not succeed as Christians. It will be difficult to know the Truth. It’s like a decoder, once He’s inside you, you can easily decode false messages, errors and deceptions. Sometimes it’s not so easy in the midst of the confusion but if we sincerely seek the Truth, we will be guided by the Spirit of the Truth. Humility and openness are the dispositions for learning. It is difficult to learn if you don’t trust your teacher or think you already know it all. If we always trust the Spirit of God in us, He will gradually lead us to the Truth. The road may not be smooth and easy, but He will guide and direct our paths to the safe harbor. May the Promise of the Father remain in us to teach and guard us against the lies and deceptions of the evil one in through Christ our Lord. Amen.
‘A CHRISTIAN IS NOT AN ORDINARY PERSON’

Friday 16 October 2026
Week 28 Ordinary Time.
Luke 12.1-7

*THERE IS NO NEED TO BE AFRAID, YOU WORTH MORE!*

Fear is one of the emotions that can hold us in bo***ge. There are so many things to fear for those who choose fear. Fear goes together with worry. Some fears could be healthy while others could be destructive, there are many people who are battling with phobias and paranoia. These are uncontrolled and irrational fear. Fear can also be learnt and equally unlearnt. This is very important because many of us grew up fearing one thing or the other, many of us were equally trained with fear as parents and elders try to instill morals and values into us. The truth is that fear is never helpful and should never control us. We should train our minds to fear less. We should know that any fear that is healthy has a better name than fear; fear of God is reverence, God will never terrorize or intimidate us, He will never frighten us, no good father does that! It is equally wrong to train children with fear as those ideas might become traumatizing to their weak psyches. We need more of confidence, faith, trust, self esteem, and courage to deal with life’s challenges than fear. Fear comes with doubts, timidity, shock, and impulsiveness. We become paralyzed when we are under the force of fear making it difficult for us to see things the way they truly are. Jesus taught us not to fear even those who kill the flesh because we have a Father Who has counted our hairs. Lies are often promoted through fear in order to keep people enslaved, we are therefore meant to fight our fears and train our minds to be brave and courageous. Most of the things that bully us spiritually, emotionally, politically and socially will loose their power if we stand up with courage and boldness. There is a difference between foolhardiness and courageousness, but cowardice should have no place in our lives because we have received not the spirit of timidity but of boldness and sound mind, the sound mind will guide us against foolhardiness. May the Spirit of Truth set us free from every fear and give us the fortitude to face every danger through Christ our Lord Amen.
‘A CHRISTIAN IS NOT AN ORDINARY PERSON’

Thursday 15 October 2026
Week 28 in Ordinary Time
St. Theresa of Avila
Luke 11:47-54

*THEY BEGAN A FURIOUS ATTACKS ON HIM*

Truth often attracts attacks especially when it is directed at those with power and authority, be it political, religious or economic. We often feel that part of respect we earn from being in authority is to silence people from telling us what they think or feel about us. Anyone who criticizes us becomes an enemy or a rebel to be dealt with. After telling the bitter truth to the Pharisees and the Lawyers, Jesus was furiously attacked by these people. They tried to force out words from Him in order to set Him up for destruction. His only offense was saying the truth. It takes a lot of maturity to accept the truth even when it is not bitter. We become furious whenever we are told the truth about ourselves. We also find it difficult to say the truth in order to avoid furious attacks. Sometimes, saying the truth can make you lose your friends and other favours. Even your family can attack you for telling them the truth. Because of the fear of attacks and losses, people prefer to tell lies, coat the truth and live in self deception. Because of favours and selfish interests, some people have become experts in telling and defending lies. The law of consequences is a very strong and karma hardly forgives; the lies we tell and defend today will hunt us tomorrow. Likewise, the truth we deny and attack today, they will surface tomorrow, staring at our faces. Those who know the value of truth pay people to give them valuable feedback about their enterprises, while others pay people to tell them lies. We need the grace of God and maturity to face some harsh realities of life. May God give us the grace and courage to accept the challenges that build us up for His glory through Christ our Lord Amen.
‘A CHRISTIAN IS NOT AN ORDINARY PERSON’

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Wednesday 14 October 2026
Week 28 in Ordinary Time.
Luke 11.42-46

*IF YOU SPEAK *LIKE THIS, YOU INSULT US TOO*

When Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, the Lawyers felt they were better until the message touched them. The Lawyer said to Jesus, ‘master, if you talk like this, you insult us too’. This means that for this lawyer, what Jesus was doing was insulting the Pharisees. For him also, there is no problem about that provided He insulted only the Pharisees and should not include the lawyers. Probably he felt that the lawyers did not deserve the ‘insult’, the Pharisees did. Some of us have that attitude of ‘I no follow’ when we listen to the word of God or any correction. Truth becomes bitter when it is about us. We can say harsh things and believe the same about others, but we can hardly accept them no matter how true they are. We always feel that the preaching is meant for some other sinners other than ourselves, then if by any means it hits us directly, we will call it insult. Meanwhile, when the words were directed to others, we never saw it as insult. One of the greatest service someone can do us is to tell us the truth. It does not matter how bitter it is, but it is better to be hurt with the truth than to be coated with sweet lies. This is why most of our friends tell us the truth only when they are provoked to anger or quarrel, when things are moving fine, we coat and massage ourselves with sweet lies, we hide from the truth wishing it does not come to the surface. Those who delight in empty lies, flattery, misleading half truths, and false identity end up discovering that they have been deceived and they might find it out very late. May we be disposed to accept the truth that will set us free in Jesus name Amen.
‘A CHRISTIAN IS NOT AN ORDINARY PERSON’

Tuesday 13 October 2026
Week 28 in Ordinary Time
Luke 11.37-41

*GIVE ALMS AND EVERYTHING WILL BE CLEAN FOR YOU*

It surprised the Pharisees that Jesus did not take their traditions seriously; He did not wash His hands before eating, and He never cared about washing of pots and cups as a religious ritual. However, Jesus noted that they were full of wickedness and extortion. The problem between Jesus and the Pharisees was not about washing of hands and pots, these are good even for hygiene. The problem was that these superficial activities became the major occupation of their religiousity, there was no more emphasis or efforts made towards living a better life, being charitable, forgiveness, conversion of heart and justice. Their focus became now directed towards mere observation of mere rituals, the form of religion took the place of the power and impact of religion. We can equally look at our way of practising religion to check where we lay emphasis, have we forgotten about the core principles and values of Christianity to focus on mere traditions and rituals? Have we left the struggle to clean the inside and focus on appearing clean on the outside? The importance of true conversion is that it sets us free and equips us to set others free; if our hearts are pure and kind, those around us, including pots and plates will benefit from the peace and joy that flows from our hearts. If our hearts are full of hatred and selfishness, even the cleanest of houses will still be a hell for us. May the Holy Spirit give us the wisdom and grace to shift attention to the things that truly matter through Christ our Lord. Amen.
‘A CHRISTIAN IS NOT AN ORDINARY PERSON’

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

(Isaiah 25.6-10, Philippians 4.12-14, 19-20, Matthew 22.1-14)

A BANQUET OF RICH FOOD; HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?

It is always an honour to be invited to a banquet. Most times people would feel offended if you do not honour their invitation to a meal. In my culture, if you meet people eating, they must invite you to come and join them and might take offence if you refuse. However, in some other cultures, no one expects you to join a meal if you did not say on time that you will be part of the meal or you were invited before it was prepared. I guess this is to avoid waste. According to a renown Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, ‘a man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see the moon in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so’.

The idea of rich food in the readings of today is very inviting. It is always an honour to be invited to a banquet. When you mention the name of a meal, it equally shows how serious the meal is. There is a difference between a lunch and a buffet. There was a time I heard there would be a lunch in an event, I was having in mind the normal lunch I used to know, at the event, we were given bread and soup, I thought the real lunch/food was still coming, when I heard people asking ‘delicious?’, I asked the person next to me if that was the lunch and he told me yes. I actually felt disappointed; some people will not take bread and soup as lunch in an event. However, the next time there was an event, I was told there would be a buffet, meaning it would be assorted food, when I went for the second event, it felt like a real lunch, what we might liken to today’s banquet in the readings.

We see that the picture of the banquet in the first reading is full of great expectation, it is something you would not like to miss; the meal, the consolation, wiping away of tears, taking away of shame, removing mourning veil, etc, no one would like to miss it. Yet, in the gospel, we saw that people actually refused to come for this great feast. Why on earth would people refuse to attend such a feast? Why would they prefer to go to farm, to business, instead of going to the banquet? As if it was not enough, those who had no place to go even resorted to beating the messengers up. This shows that the people were not happy with the feast, something must have happened.

Like most parables of Jesus, there is something missing in this story. It is most likely that the people had other issues, maybe they had waited for long, maybe they have developed hatred for the king, something must have made them to lose interest, it is also possible that someone had poisoned their minds about the feast, they might be thinking that it would be like my experience lunch of bread and soup instead of a buffet. However, what is even more touching in this story was the ending where the king had to cast one of the guests out for not wearing the wedding garment. He asked the man an interesting question, ‘how did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?’ The man’s silence reveals his bad attitude; it is most likely a sign of guilt.

We would have thought that the king would not be concerned about the garment since the people were gathered in a hurry from everywhere. Yet, the king was angry with the man for not wearing the wedding garment; he even had to bind him and threw him out. This banquet of rich food represents the great gifts of God, the promises of God are rich and free, but the truth is that most people reject it for one reason or the other. For example, have you not noticed that in some Churches with beautiful choir singing wonderful songs without any charge or payment, only few people attend. If the same choir goes to a theatre and sings the same songs, the theatre will be full of people who paid to come and listen, just like people pay to fill stadium and watch football.

People have their excuses for rejecting the gifts and offers of God, maybe they are disappointed with God’s messengers, or they have lost interest. However, we should not focus only on those who refuse the gifts of God; we should also pay attention to those who come to the banquet without wedding garment. This is because, sometimes, we think that by coming to the church, we are better than those who did not come at all, we therefore feel that God should not mind our dressing or attitude, after all, we tried to come at all. This is wrong thinking, God expects us to treat the banquet with the due respect, we should not treat it as if it is not a serious thing, we should not think that we are doing God a favour by coming, no, we are rather favoured because, this banquet is that of a king.

Those who are happy to be called, should do everything in their power to make sure they are equally chosen by dressing very well and being fully prepared for such a great banquet. Most times when things are offered free of charge, we tend to take them for granted; we therefore fail to appreciate and give the expected respect and preparation for such gifts. This message calls us not only to answer the Lord’s invitation but to give it a well-deserved attention and preparation, to value it and be grateful for such an invitation. May we be found worthy to be called and be chosen for the great banquet through Christ our Lord. Amen.

‘A CHRISTIAN IS NOT AN ORDINARY PERSON’

🎂👑 A ROYAL BIRTHDAY BLESSING TO MY BELOVED DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, AUNTIE OGE (MAMA-ADA) AND EJIMAS 👑🎂
On this special and glorious birthday anniversary, I,Chukwukadibia,on behalf of our unique and illustrious Royal Family Edwin Nwafor Nwadiogwa Ibeamaonye, joyfully celebrate my beloved daughter-in-law, Auntie Oge (Mama-Ada) and Ejimas.

My dear daughter, may Chukwuokikeabiama, the Almighty God, bless your new age with divine protection, sound health, abundant prosperity, peace, wisdom, happiness, long life, and all the very best that this life can offer.

As the four sacred market days of our great Igbo heritage—Eke, Orie, Afor, and Nkwo—continue their sacred cycle, may each day bring you fresh blessings, new opportunities, uncommon favour, and testimonies of divine goodness. May Eke open doors of greatness for you, Orie bring you peace and fulfilment, Afor shower you with abundance and prosperity, and Nkwo crown your efforts with success, honour, and lasting happiness.

As your father, I proudly extend my fatherly blessings upon your life, marriage, family, endeavours, and future. May the Almighty God guide your footsteps, strengthen your faith, enlarge your coast, and grant you the desires of your heart according to His perfect will. May your home remain a sanctuary of love, unity, laughter, and understanding, and may you continue to be a source of pride, joy, and blessings to our family and generations yet unborn.

May you never lack helpers, may goodness and mercy follow you throughout your lifetime, and may every new chapter of your life be greater than the one before it. May your days be filled with laughter, your heart with contentment, your hands with blessings, and your path with divine light. May you live long to enjoy the fruits of your labour in peace, excellent health, and overflowing abundance.

Happy Birthday, my beloved daughter-in-law, Auntie Oge (Mama-Ada) and Ejimas! Continue to shine like the precious jewel you are, walk in grace, live in favour, and flourish in the blessings of Chukwuokikeabiama.

With the love, pride, and blessings of a father, and on behalf of our unique Royal Family, I wish you many more glorious, fruitful, peaceful, and prosperous years ahead.

I hereby pronounce my royal fatherly blessings upon you in the mighty name of Chukwuokikeabiama, the Almighty God. May Eke, Orie, Afor, and Nkwo continually speak goodness, greatness, protection, and prosperity into your life, today and forevermore.

Iseeeee! Iseeeee!! IseeeeeAmen!!!

Saturday 10 October 2026
Week 27 in Ordinary Time.
Luke 11.27-28

*HAPPIER THOSE WHO HEAR AND KEEP THE WORD…*

A woman listening to the gracious words coming from Jesus exclaimed, ‘happy is the womb that bore you and breasts you suckled.’ Yes, the woman really felt that Jesus’ mother must be a happy and lucky woman to have such a great and uncommon child. Of course she was right but that is not all. Jesus told her, there is even greater happiness for obeying the word of God than just being my mother. So, you also have the chance to benefit from the happiness that comes from Jesus. It is not reserved for His mother and relations, anyone who listens to Jesus and keeps His words, have access to even greater happiness than His biological relations. The mother of Jesus earned more through her faith, humility and obedience than through biological functions she performed. Faith and obedience to Jesus earns us a place of honor in His life. As we choose to keep His words, may He fulfill our desires and make us truly happy and blessed in Jesus name Amen.
A CHRISTIAN IS NOT AN ORDINARY PERSON