Impressions from the US

I had to visit the US last week for a Memorial Service for my nephew in Chicago. I also travelled to Dallas and San Francisco to visit other members of my family. My nephew was a member of the Warehouse Church in a suburb of Chicago, it's a biker church. The pastor is a former biker and he has attracted some of that fraternity to gather round him. My nephew was a 'born-again Christian' and he found his spiritual home there. It took me back to my younger days - when I too considered myself an evangelical or Bible Christian. A complete contrast with the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dallas where I attended Sunday mass. The journey from the biker church to the Catholic shrine represented my own spiritual journey in miniature. However, there has been another stage to my journey - from entry into the Catholic Church to entry into Carmel. When converts come into the Church, they are in due course presented with the question: now I am a Catholic, what sort of Catholic will I be? I found the answer to that question in Carmel - and what an answer!