Bia Nuru Olu Anyi

When it is time for the Universal Prayer at Mass, the choir's role is to help the congregation lift their needs to God. "Bia Nuru Olu Anyi" does exactly this, offering a gentle but deeply earnest plea for the Father to hear our voices. Built on a melody by the late Onyeka Onwenu and arranged for choir by Ekwem Lilian, this piece wraps the traditional Prayer of the Faithful in a comforting, familiar Igbo cadence. It is a song of total reliance on God, calling on the "Eze" (King) and "Onye n'ememma" (Doer of good) to listen to our cries.

The heart of the arrangement shines in its middle section, where the choir declares a profound truth: "Ọnweghị mgbe ike mmadụ, ọnweghị mgbe ik'ekwensu, ji'a karị ike Chukwu." Here, the voices remind everyone present that no human strength and no demonic force can ever surpass the power of God. It brings a deep sense of reassurance to the liturgy. As the sopranos lead this declaration and the harmonies swell beneath them, the song transforms the intercessions from a simple list of requests into a powerful moment of communal faith and surrender.