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It is the Holy Spirit Who provides us the best shield against evil, and to see the symbolism of evil is only to look around us.

While much of Halloween is just for fun, there is a sinister underside, and in some cases -- with some costumes, with some rituals -- its energy makes a direct connection.

But Halloween is not the only brush with darkness. We are surrounded by evil every day of the year, and on every holiday, but we find refuge in the Holy Spirit.

This is not just Sunday jargon. It is a fact: the Holy Spirit is our surest defense against the devil and can swath our bodies in real protection.

It is the Holy Spirit Who also shows us where the real the presence of evil is, that we may avoid it. When we ask for Him, He comes.

With fervor ask the Holy Spirit to descend on our homes, our families, and our communities in this era of both hope and darkness. Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit.

"Your recent statement, 'There has been another elevation of spiritual warfare, especially manifest in families' could not be more true as I reflect upon my own family's virtual collapse in the wake of a recent divorce after 13 years of marriage," writes a California man who will be kept anonymous. "We have three kids ages, 14, 12, and eight. We were the model Catholic family, or so I thought. I had a great engineering career that provided enough income that allowed for my wife to stay at home and raise the kids. I was always home by 5:00 p.m. in time for family dinner. We attended Mass on a regular basis.

"I believed that our marriage would provide a spiritual shield that would protect our family from the negative influences of the world. I was very mistaken. The last two years of marriage, my wife became very distant and showed a lack of interest in the faith. Later she began to go out at nights to be with 'the girlfriends,' leaving me alone with the kids when I got home from work on most week nights. Eventually I filed for divorce after I caught her cheating on me. I spent time in jail for what I did to her boyfriend when I caught them. I felt so betrayed. The story goes much deeper, but suffice it to say it is like an evil spirit got into our marriage and systematically destroyed it. And it all happened so fast, it was like I didn't see it coming."

It is important to recognize evil where it is, and to step back and pray the moment we see it coming. This stops it from taking root. This takes the sting out of tensions. Again, we invoke the Holy Spirit, along with the Archangel Michael. We must pray and fast to shield ourselves from such things and to see them in advance.

It is the first thing that Satan attacks, and the testimonies are too numerous to summarize.

We get notes from those in long marriages that are suddenly collapsing, from those whose children have turned totally wayward, from those who are persecuted.

"My marriage was brutally attacked by the evil one about three-and-a-half years ago," laments a reader named Rebecca. "My husband and I had had our problems over the years, but for the past decade, our marriage had been growing and blossoming, and was getting better all the time. Of course Satan cannot tolerate such things. The details are too long to go into here, but the result was that everything turned upside down, and my husband divorced me two-and-a-half years ago, against my will, after 28 years of marriage. He loved me, I have no doubt, but had also carried a torch for a high school girlfriend all that time. In spite of that, he met a woman shortly after the divorce, and married her a year later, all with his secular counselor's blessing."

The secular world tolerates evil. But faith always wins -- no matter how dark a situation -- and along the way, sacramentals help.

"When we moved to Brunswick, Georgia, my husband and I were haunted by an evil spirit which tormented me and which I believed was intent on breaking up my marriage," writes a woman from the Philippines. "Since I constantly battled and prayed and asked my mom to pray for me, it decided to scare me and my husband by turning on the ceiling fan in the middle of the night and letting our wicker screen fall straight upon us.

"My husband was terrified and woke up screaming and I was too but because I had a profound conversion a few years before and did a lot of reading on spiritual warfare, I commanded 'In the name of Jesus Christ and the power of His Blood I command you to leave at once, never to return.' We were somehow quickly comforted and went promptly back to sleep. After that my Mom advised me to sprinkle Holy Water all over the house, and get a picture of Jesus' Most Holy Face agonizing on the Cross. Then I started praying to Saint Michael. After that our house felt holy and at peace."

"I can attest to spiritual warfare in the family," says yet another viewer. "For years my husband treated me very poorly, verbally abusing me and constantly venting his discontent on me. Anyway, it was during this time that I was coming home to the Church, and a friend of mine suggested sprinkling blessed Holy Water and holy salt around the house. The effect was immediate! It was like night and day! All rancor and abuse stopped at once. I never told my husband, he doesn't know. I rejoiced with my friend, that blessed holy water achieved what years of begging, pleading, threats, and Prozac failed to do."

But heavy traffic? Yes, there is heavy traffic out there. We ignore it -- we scoff at it, we treat it as psychology -- at our own peril.

A woman from Central Florida writes that she went to a party and got an unpleasant surprise. "The hostess was dressed with a long skirt and boots," she says. "I looked around and saw all the women were dressed in this fashion and gave it no initial thought since it was a pirate party. I did not feel very comfortable there, could not put my finger on it. The hostess was a hunter; lots of deer and bear heads on wood hanging in the home….bear rug. Party was indoors and outdoors…it was also an unusually cold evening for April. There was an outdoor fire burning. I know you guessed it: witches!"

One woman and her husband fled their home in Venice, California, because of all the occult activity and actual demonic manifestations. We will spare you the details. It was out of a horror movie.

But those terrifying moments were accompanied by God's grace. They were sent the Holy Spirit. They even saw the dancing sun. They described the help they were sent as like a little Pentecost. Come Holy Spirit. In Scripture it tells us to resist the devil and he will flee. Let us add the word persevere (James 4:7). Resist and persist.

"We have seen many fruits of the Spirit lately, experiencing many consolations in the family," says a viewer named Connie from Texas, "so a step-up of evil has been accompanied by a step-up of manifestation of the Holy Spirit's Presence amongst us!"

Call too -- especially this week -- on the saints. Only unified will Christians win.

"My children and neighbors are more and more wearing St. Benedict crucifixes, as well as many men and women in my very traditional Roman Catholic parish," writes a lay Carmelite named Denise Polasky in Michigan. "It is very accepted and quite common to wear a large crucifix over a shirt/tie or blouse. I recently went to a local service garage for a minor car repair and, stepping into the waiting area, was greeted by a complete stranger also wearing a large St. Benedict Crucifix. He immediately came over and was quite friendly and we shared some small conversation waiting for our cars. I take my handicapped mother each month to her doctor, who wears a large St. Benedict Crucifix over his tie so it shows at the top of his unbuttoned white surgical coat. He is a devout Catholic who regularly visits Rome -- and is a well respected internationally known doctor. So, if you ask if there is an increase in the need for 'spiritual protection' I can heartily agree that here in my area of Michigan, I seem to be seeing more and more people wearing larger crucifixes and, though this may be a small side note... seeming to 'come together' through various paths with like minded Catholics. Bumping into each other on our daily journeys, acknowledging to each other that we share a common bond."