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(Ed. Note. The following homily was given at our weekly DIGNITY Mass on Sunday, Jan. 19, 1997. It is printed in this newsletter for the benefit of all who were not fortunate enough to hear it in person.) 

The readings tonight hold a special significance to me and also I think to our chapter. I would like to take just a few minutes to share some of my reflections about them with you. 

In the first reading we see the boy Samuel being called by the Lord but Samuel mistakenly thinks it is Eli who is calling him. When Eli tells him it is the Lord who is calling, Samuel is ready and waiting for him saying, "Speak Lord for your servant is listening". 

I think we too need to be ready and open to hearing the Lord when He speaks. In fact I believe He speaks to all of us regularly, but we like Samuel do not always recognize the Speaker. For me personally, as I have become more actively involved with Dignity and consequently my Catholic faith, I have begun to be able to more clearly discern the Lord when He speaks to me. He seems to be speaking to me more often too, or maybe I'm just becoming more aware of this.

Now, I know there are many of you who frequently wonder about my sanity, so let's clarify that a bit! I'm not saying I am walking around hearing voices all the time! The voice I'm talking about is that little voice inside which we all have and we probably all hear when we want, and probably ignore a lot more often. I believe this is the voice the Lord uses to communicate with us, when we let Him. When I am willing to listen to that voice, somehow I end up doing the right thing. When I ignore that voice and what it's saying, the results are far less satisfying. 

So, if you're waiting for some big booming voice out of the sky to tell you your mission in life, you may be waiting a long time! In the interim you may be missing out on the opportunity to regularly hear the Lord and what He expects of you. Try listening to that voice a little more this week and see if you don't agree with me that it's the Lord speaking.  

In the gospel reading we see the beginning of the selection of the disciples of Jesus Christ. In other versions of this same story we hear of the disciples putting down what they are doing and immediately following Christ. Someone they had apparently just met and yet somehow they knew to follow Him. How did they know to do this? I think they too, like Samuel heard the voice of the Lord and was ready to do as directed. 

And in the second reading we are told our bodies are parts of the body of Christ. Thinking in terms of our own individual bodies, we know when we are feeling good and all parts of our bodies are working properly and pulling together we can accomplish a lot. We also know, when one or more parts of our bodies are not functioning properly it takes a lot more effort to accomplish the same things. 

Taking all three readings together, I think we are being directed to listen for the Lord's call and to respond appropriately, to become better components of the Body of Christ. How better to answer the Lord and to serve the Lord than by serving one another. 

I see all of us here tonight as an integral part of Christ's body. I think about how much we accomplish when we are working together as one healthy body. I think about how much more we could do if everyone always felt and acted as part of that one body. The question is, are we listening when the Lord speaks to us and are we willing to follow as directed? Has the Lord been calling upon you to be a more active member of this body? How have you responded to that call? 

In a few months this chapter will celebrate it's Silver Anniversary. In May we will have been serving the San Diego lesbian and gay Catholic community for 25 years! That weekend is already being meticulously planned. Marianne Duddy, our National President will be here, Jerry Deas our National Director will be here. There will be a great many guests from the LA Chapter and from various local organizations as well. We will have a fabulous time at the Dinner/Dance on Saturday evening and we will have a more solemn, but joyful celebration at the special Anniversary Liturgy on Sunday evening.  

It will be a fun weekend full of celebrating. I'm looking forward to it and I'm not at all concerned about that weekend, but rather I'm concerned about what happens after that weekend. Will Dignity San Diego be here to celebrate it's 26th anniversary? I personally hope so. In fact, my hope is that Dignity San Diego will continue to serve this community for as long as we are needed. But that may not be possible. 

I want you to stop for a moment and consider how your life might be affected if suddenly there was no Sunday evening Dignity Liturgy. Would you seek out another service somewhere or would you simply stop attending services. What would that be like for you? How much would you miss the Dignity Mass? Could you find another community that would be as comfortable and satisfying for you? 

What if the monthly pot lucks were stopped. We actually did this a few years ago because there seemed to be a lack of interest. Fewer and fewer people were bringing a dish to share, so we stopped the pot lucks. After a few months, everyone began to realize how much the monthly pot luck meant to them and we were able to resume them successfully. Would the same thing happen if we stopped the weekly services for a while. Would enough people miss the service that we could then resume. Let's not take it that far. Let's appreciate what we have here and let's all do what we need to do to keep it alive and growing.  

Putting it quite simply what we need here to keep this chapter alive are primarily two things: we need active involvement by many more people and we need an increase in financial support. That's all we need is some of your time and some of your money. Not all of your time and not all of your money, just a little more of both than you are giving right now. 

In May, right after the 25th Anniversary Celebration we will have the first elections under our new bylaws. We will elect our first Community Council. The new bylaws were written to make it easier to both be elected and to serve. Under the new bylaws, candidates for the Community Council will not be running against anyone. You will not have to make any speeches, you simply need to be willing to commit to serving if elected. Once elected, the new Council will sit down and assign responsibilities for each of the necessary administrative functions based upon qualifications. You wouldn't have to do any job you don't want to do or don't know how to do. All you have to do is make the commitment to serve. 

When the elections come, will we expect the same individuals to stand for election again. Most members of the current Board have been on the Board for several terms already. Isn't it about time for some fresh faces, fresh ideas, fresh enthusiasm? Perhaps the Lord has been calling upon some of you to serve the community in this capacity? Have you not heard Him calling or are you screening your calls? 

Of course, you don't have to serve on the new Community Council to be more involved. We can use more help is any number of ways? Question: Are you doing your fair share? Are you giving back to this community at least as much as you are receiving from it? Is it appropriate to come here week after week, receiving spiritual nourishment and not giving some of it back? What is that little voice saying about your commitment to Dignity right now? 

The second item I mentioned was the chapter finances. Over the past several months we have seen a decline in the amount of the weekly donations. We've cut expenses drastically and we are working on ways of raising funds. Right now for example, we have no funds left in the advertising budget. That means we cannot run the ads telling people we are here. And I know from personal experience those ads have brought a great many people here in their time of real or desperate need. I can't tell you how many people have found us just when they had about given up all hope. I don't want to even think about those people out there tonight, right now! that could be helped by us, who don't even know we are here right at this very moment. 

As I've said, we have cut expenses everywhere we can and I am grateful to everybody on this Board for doing everything possible to keep expenses down. But the bottom line is that like any business we need continued income to stay in business, to continue our work. This is your community. You know how important it is to you. And you are the only one who knows if you are giving as much as you could. I'm not going to stand here and tell anybody how much they should give. That is a personal decision. I just ask you to consider how much you are giving and to do more if you can. 

One of the ways we have in the past raised funds was to hold a yard sale. This always results in about 900 to 1,000 dollars of net income to the chapter. In the past this has been an annual event. But this year we have decided to have a spring edition of the yard sale as well. The tentative date of the sale is Saturday, April 19. So one of the things you can do now is to start putting aside those usable items, which you no longer use. Items which could be of use to someone else. 

Another way you might help the chapter is to volunteer to assist with this sale. Many of you participated last fall on the day of the sale, but much work has to be done in the days and weeks before the sale to get ready. Can you spare a little bit of your time? Do you have a truck you could use to help with the pickup and moving of the items? Do you have a garage where we could store some of those items until the day of the sale?  

There are countless ways you could be making a difference in the future of this chapter. There are also countless excuses for not doing something, anything! I don't have time, I have a full time job! I can't work with so and so! I don't like so and so! As long as he (or she) is on the Board, I won't lift a finger to help! Believe me, I've heard them all and then some! 

I just wonder what the reaction would be if the Lord called right now and wanted you to do something only you could do for this community and your response was, "I would do it Lord, but not as long as Mike is the President, I don't like him!" I just wonder what response the Lord would have to that! 

What I'm saying is that the future of this chapter is in all of our hands right now! We are all being called to do our part! We can each pitch in and do our part and make this one fantastic faith community! Or after the anniversary celebration we could just lock the doors and go home and forget how important Dignity was to each of us when we first discovered it!  

Is it still important to you? Do you think it is important to others who have not yet found us? 

We've all been given many skills, many talents, many experiences which we could put to use helping this chapter and one another. If we fail to use the blessings we have received then they are simply wasted. If on the other hand we want to answer the Lord's call and serve Him, there is simply no better way to serve Him than to serve one another.

Jan 19, '97

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