It was back in 1969, when a 14 year old girl, Rita Kelly, and her boyfriend, Jeff Doerr, volunteered to sing and bring their electric music into St. Ignatius Church in Winnipeg. This was soon after Vatican II, when the Church had just opened its doors to the cultures, languages and artistic expressions of contemporary society. When these volunteers and the priests all said “yes’ to an electric Sunday night Mass, it did not take long before every Sunday night at 9:00pm, they were attracting close to a 1,000 young people to the Church.
Over the years other young teenagers like 13 year old Eileen Grant-MacLeod, Angie Kirby-Donovan, Dave Jaworski, John Deegan and more recently, Keith MacPherson joined them. These young people grew up in front of that huge congregation. Guided and inspired by their own music, much of which they wrote themselves, and by their weekly participation in the Eucharist, these young musicians were able to successfully begin their varied careers, marry, have children and grandchildren, deal with serious illness and cope with the death of close relatives and friends. 
On Sunday, June 23, 2013, after 44 years of faithfully singing and playing every Sunday night, Discernment of Ignatius, as they now are known, retired. They retired surrounded by the people they had inspired. That Sunday night St. Ignatius Church was filled once again with people who had arrived early to hear for the last time “live”, the tunes of their beloved music group. These were people who had first met their eventual husbands and wives at the 9pm Mass, and who had asked Discernment to play at their weddings. These were people who had first heard Discernment in their mothers’ wombs. These were people who had come back to Church after having been away for many, many years, and who immediately felt comfortable and at home because of the ambience Discernment and their music created.
Over the years Discernment disposed thousands and thousands of young people to be open to God’s Word and made them eager to receive the Eucharist. 
Now these people would no longer be able to see them leading the congregation in joyous song. They knew they would miss them, but they were grateful they would still have four recordings from Discernment to help them recall past moments of inspiration and grace and to help them continue to go more deeply into the mysteries of life and of God. They knew that Discernment had been a channel of God’s grace for them. 
And they realized that Discernment now had to move on – there is a time for every purpose under heaven. But they also knew nobody could take away from them what Discernment had given them. They had been transformed by them. They had matured. And they were filled with gratitude for Discernment.
We each have a talent for the community. If we dare to faithfully offer our gifts, who knows what God will do through us? We each ask, “What can I and my talents do for the world?” We may not know the answer now, but God will work it out.