Drive down any country dirt road here in the south and you’re bound to see a small wooden sign hanging from a tree, with the words “HOLY GHOST POWER,” hand painted on it. Or the other favorite, “REPENT- THE END IS NEAR.” Personally I like the Holy Ghost Power sign, it reminds me of the movie “The Apostle,” with Robert Duvall, and the fantastic scene that shows an inside peek at a tent revival. In the movie all of the ‘preacher men and preacher women’ are taking turns rousing up the crowds, screaming into the mic, dancing around raising their hands..invoking the ‘Holy Ghost Power.’ There’s music…and prayer…there’s a man jingling the keys that Jesus used …it’s quite entertaining and stirs up the crowds…and there appears to be a real power moving inside that tent...a power moving through the crowds…but is it really the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit? Is that really the way It works? I’m not sure. As a Catholic, I have never seen this type of jumping around..this type of full body filled with the Holy Spirit… As traditional Catholics, we are much more reserved…much more quiet…but what I do know, is that the Holy Ghost is a tremendous force of such a power and without this ‘Power’ of the Holy Spirit, man has no power. That without the Holy Spirit, there is nothing of value in man.

Just recently, the Holy Mother Church, in all Her glorious wisdom, celebrated the Feast of the Pentecost and then the Feast of the Holy Trinity…. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. As Christians we all realize that we have a Triune God. We say our prayers to God the Father in Heaven …and we trust in the Divine Mercy of Jesus, but how do we honor the Holy Spirit? Do we all believe in this Holy Ghost Power?

We must understand that since the beginning of time, everything good in the world has come from God… All of it being directed towards Him as well. If we just look around in nature we can witness this first hand… The way plants grow…the way animals live and behave…the weather…everything is of God and is directed by Him. And it is good. Except for man. We have free will and are free to listen to His direction…His movement in this world through the Power of the Holy Ghost. But so many times we choose to turn away from the Holy Spirit…the good of God... and we become distracted  towards evil.

The devil is a cunning character. And his power to manipulate our emotions is something that we must guard against… with prayer... We must always remember that without the movement of the Holy Spirit…without the ‘Holy Ghost Power’ we are powerless. This next sentence might upset some people…but it is the Truth…We….as in man… can do no good on our own. Every bit of our goodness comes from the Lord….through the Power of the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Spirit is the only One capable of cleansing those who are stained…freeing those who are burdened by sin. It is the Holy Ghost that can heal the sick… and soften the hardest of hearts … the Holy Spirit is as powerful today as it was in the times of the Bible. But man is different… we have changed. We have become indifferent to God and His Power… to His Spirit. Then when we witness the Power of the Holy Ghost we don’t even recognize it! We have become so distracted by our sin. So manipulated away from the Truth. We have got to change.We have got to regain our faith. The “I’m all in” kind of Faith. The True Faith of Christ.

We have to be active members of His Church… the Holy Catholic Church. It is only then that we will be able to have the kind of faith that will allow us to see the Holy Ghost in the world today. It is only then that we will witness it moving through people.. moving through us…as it did with His disciples…. building up the Holy Mother Church…Reviving  the Body of Christ on earth. And it is only then that we will see the Holy Spirit of Christ being revealed to a world that has grown too weary…. grown too cold….

St. JoséMaria Escriva wrote, ” There cannot be faith in the Holy Spirit if there is not faith in Christ, in His sacraments, and in His Church. A man cannot act in accordance with his Christian faith… cannot truly believe in the Holy Spirit unless he loves the Church and trusts It.”

I recently wrote about the Crucifix or the Cross, and I stated how we must always remember that it was Christ’s suffering on that Cross that brought man his redemption, well, if you think about it, It was also His death on the Cross that reconciled man to God. Before that, God had become angry with man and his constant sinfulness. But after the death and the Resurrection, God revealed himself to man in His fullness… as God the Father, God the Son and finally…God the Holy Spirit. And He left us the Holy Mother Church as a sign of the Holy Spirit in the world…St. John Chrysostom said that the Catholic Church is the outward sign to the world that the Holy Spirit still exists!! It is alive and breathing…pouring out to all the world through this great institution…baptizing men in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost…the Holy Ghost Power!