Jesus himself stood in their midst and said, "Peace to you." How very appropriate! Even more appropriate is the amazing parallel of this Gospel scene to our own.

Yesterday’s word was "recognize." Today’s word is "recall."

When the disciples recovered from shock, Jesus said," Recall , recall the words that I said when I was still with you." And with the upper room disciples as with the Emmaus disciples, there is an insistence that in thought they journey back—all the way back to Moses, the prophets, the psalmist, the parables—his words. What is it that Jesus would have them discover or rediscover in this massive recall?

He wants them to remember that from the words of God to Abraham and Sarah who learned that the One who had made the promise was worthy of T r u s t --- to the words of Jesus himself who said "Put your TRUST in the light." Jesus wanted the disciples to recall and to hold in full view the picture of the loving, trustworthy God who keeps promises ---this is the One to whom they are now called to witness. "You are witnesses," Jesus says, "to all of this."

We have all done our recall -- of our sacred history, our liturgies, our prophetic women. Sometimes mournfully, but hopefully, and above all, asking for the grace to trust. With trust, we can take all of our past values, bring them to this moment so that along with the upper room disciples we can be witnesses to what Jesus refers to as "all of this."

And in doing so, we recall the familiar words of our brother prophet, Meister Eckhart:

"No person can ever trust God too much. Nothing people ever do is as appropriate as great trust in God. With such trust God never fails to accomplish great things." This we believe.

We believe that in trust we can be harbingers of peace not only

in formal preaching or in the dramatic forms of activism or in the changing of systems, but even by our very presence and our way of life. Some of our greatest preachers…Martin dePorres, Rose of Lima as well as many of our sisters present and past have never mounted a podium.

In Act v of The Merchant of Venice, Portia says, "How far that little candle throws its beams. So shine s a kind deed in a darkened world." Every act of the preacher of peace brings light to a darkened world.

As a final recall, I would like to think of the zen story of the old woman who made a pilgrimage to a far away mountain shrine in the worst part of the rainy season. Stopping at an inn along the way, she asked for a night’s lodging before beginning her climb up the holy mountain. "You’ll never climb the slippery clay of that mountain in this weather," the inn-keeper said. "It’s impossible." "O, that will be very simple," the old woman said, "You see, sir, my heart has been there for years. It is now only a matter of taking my body there."

Our hearts have been in our Dominican mission of preaching for years. It is now only a question of taking our preaching presence to wherever our vision calls.

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