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So, the Sacred Spirit is a personal source of power. Yet, we are not to seek the power first. We are to live in relationship with the Holy Spirit. In this withness, or withing, a natural consequence - according to universal spiritual law - follows: power. If you have a relationship, or are relating with, Power, you will receive the power.
Yet, again, this Power is of God, an Aspect within a personal Being. This is not a Force to be manipulated by mere positive thinking to create my universe. This so-called enlightened kind of "manipulation" is nothing but old-time magic.
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We are to live as powerful persons. Amidst the challenges of life, we are to be powerful beings. Why? For we are to share in the Power of God. Like in our opening story, we are not to run out of gas due to not getting re-filled through our union with God.
One of my favorite passages pertains to this possibility of a daily renewal of the energizing of the Sacred Mystery:
16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are [slowly] dying, our spirits are [lit., our inner being is] being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
*II Corinthians 4.16-17 (NLT)
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Now, how do we get this daily renewal? How do we get this infusion of energy daily? Well, we could say many things about this, but let us focus on one thing: relationship. You might want to read over Psalm 23, noting how personal is the Psalm, for it flows out of an intimacy with the Divine.
One of my favorite parts of Psalm 23 speaks on our theme for today. Notice what happens in this Person to person sharing:
"He renews my strength (or, refreshes me)."
*Psalm 23.3a (AT)
There we have it. To enjoy the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, daily, we must live in withing with the Spirit of Christ daily. We cannot take a day off. We cannot make excuses.
Indeed, at the center of our days and nights is to be prayer. Yet, this prayerfulness, which is really any form of communion with God, is often what is not being focused on by Christians, by clergy, or by the churches.
Matt Baglio, in The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, tells the story of a Father Gary being trained to be an exorcist. When first getting to Rome for the training, Baglio shares the emotion: "In Rome he felt he was part of something bigger than himself, bigger than just the petty little day-to-day concerns that sometimes overwhelm a parish priest." Later, Father Gary remarked, with a "hint of regret": "It's not that it's all administration, but it does tend to take you away from the things that are more important, such as focusing on people's prayer life."
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