By Olivia Obijiaku
Delivering the homily during the Mass he celebrated at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, on Saturday, September 6, 2025, the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Dr. Ezekiel Danlami Tijjani charged parishioners to prioritize human life above any other thing. He leaned on the day’s Gospel reading in which Jesus told the Pharisees that man is the lord of Sabbath in itemizing the four moral principles thus: the principle of life; the principle of goodness; the principle of justice and the principle of piety.
The clergyman cited Can. 1752: ‘Salvation of soul is the supreme law,’ in defending that no one can claim to be good except if they protect, promote and project human life; neither can they claim to be pro-life except they do same.
His words, “Of these four principles, life comes first. You cannot say you are a good man or a good woman when you do not value and human protect life. You will say that you are a good person because you are a pro-lifer, not a pro-choice. Your goodness is because you have tilted towards human life. And you cannot say you are a man or woman of justice if your justice does not promote human life. Neither can you say you are a man or a woman of piety if your religious obligation does not promote, protect and project life.”
“So, whatever we do, life comes first. You must be alive for any other thing to happen. And so, life is to be protected at all cost. That is why Jesus says to us in Jn. 10:10, ‘I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.’ Jesus came for us to have life. Any law that we enact must first of all protect life. If there is any law that we enact be it in the Church or wherever that is not geared towards saving lives, then that law is not worthwhile.”
“Jesus told the Pharisees that life is to be protected on a Sabbath against any other thing. He told them that, ‘My disciples are eating on a Sabbath Day. They are plucking from the grain field on a Sabbath because they are hungry. If they do not eat, they will die. David, when he was hungry, alongside those who were with him, he entered the House of the Lord ate the bread meant for the priest and David was not a priest. But then. He entered and ate and gave to the people around him because they needed to be alive. Man is the lord of the Sabbath.’ Therefore, any law that is enacted, is first of all to promote life and protect life. Any other thing away from this is not orchestrated by God.”
Fr. Tijjani cautioned fasting to the point of death, due to religious inclination. He reminded those who engage in such practices, that they need to be alive to fast and to do other things, even as he told them that their fasting is meant to protect and promote life. “If your fasting is does not protect life, then you are not working in tandem with Jesus.”
