Emphasis Preaching Journal

In The Days of Our Years, Pierre Van Paassen tells of a parish priest who was outraged at some members of his congregation for their judgmental attitude toward a young woman of the village, who, in response, had committed suicide. Stepping into the pulpit, the priest addressed them. "Christians!" Van Paassen writes that the word had the effect of a whiplash. The priest repeated it. "Christians! When the Lord of life and death shall ask me on the Day of Judgment, 'Pasteur de la Roudaire, where are thy sheep?' I will not answer.