The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - The Ascension App

Episode Date: June 30, 2023

Are you looking for a tool to help you go even deeper in your study of the Bible and the Catechism? Today, Jeff shares about the brand new Ascension App. He explains the different functions of the app that help you to see the connections between Scripture and Tradition and so much more. Snippet from the Show The goal is to grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 330, the Ascension app. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. I cannot tell you how. I cannot tell you how. pool the Ascension app is. And what a privilege it is to be a part of it and to share it with you today. You probably have already heard about it because like Bible in a year and Catechism in a year, it just spread like wildfire. It is incredible. And I'm going to kind of take it apart for you today and show you the advantage of using the Ascension app for Bible study and for studying the faith with the Catechism. To be honest with you, I'm still in awe at the, the beautiful.

beauty and the comprehensive nature of this app in bringing together sacred scripture and sacred tradition. You've got to get a hold of it. You really do. And if you need to pause right here and just download it, it's in the show notes, where to get it, but you're going to find it everywhere. It is just so, so cool. You know that when I developed a great adventure Bible study years and years ago with a color-coded system. I really developed that just so that I could navigate the Bible better. And then, you know, as a story goes, more and more people said, well, that's the way I think too. And so we ended up developing the Great Adventure Bible study with 12 periods, 14 narrative books, show you where the other 59 fit in. Very simple. It's

the Bible timeline chart. But I think that the color coding system really, really did something special for it, where people started to identify certain characters and events with colors in the Bible, in salvation history. But I'd never envisioned going this far in terms of the beauty of this app and how it's integrated with the catechism. And I think that that's the beautiful thing about this ascension app, is that it brings together the two seamlessly, absolutely seamlessly. So let's take a look at, you know, some of the aspects of this. First of all, you can just download it. It's free.

It's right there for you. And it is the number one Catholic app that contains the entire text of the RSVCE Bible, which is the translation of the Great Adventure Bible. And it is the entire text of the catechism of the Catholic Church built right into the the app completely free. That's what blows me away is that we're just giving this away. And I think we should. I think that that is the right thing to do is just to give this away so that people can dive into it and begin to grow. And so each, listen to this, each and every reference to the Bible from the catechism is specially designed so that readers can easily see what is being referenced by the authors. So if you're reading the catechism and there is a footnote or there

is a link to the scripture that that particular paragraph is talking about, all you do is click on it and it brings you right to that portion of the Bible. And then again, in the Bible, there are links right to the catechism. This is amazing. It's never been done before. The Word of God and the complete teachings of the Catholic Church. And there's answers and commentary. Father Mike Schmitz, of course, is giving some. I'm giving some, and there's other experts who are going to be chiming in and sharing videos, audio, textual commentary, right there in the app, right there on your phone,

right in the exact place that they belong. So there's over a thousand different articles and videos that are implanted into the text. you know the kind where you have tough questions about the Bible and then we have a video connected to it you can just go to it right there and you can get more more insight at that point so the beauty of this is that you have on one side you have the Bible on another side you have the catechism the two are completely integrating with each other oh this is good this is so good and then on top of that we have Bible in a year and catechism in a year. And there's some really cool things that are going to be coming. I'm just going to tell you that. Some really cool things are right

around the corner and it's going to make a big difference. It really, it really is. One of the things that I so appreciate about this, and I know you probably have already downloaded it at the beginning of the show, so you're getting caught up with me now. But one of the things that I so appreciate about this, is that people oftentimes have a problem in integrating in their own mind, the sacred text and the sacred tradition. And even if they want to study that, it can be a lot of work to try to figure it out. But in the app, it brings them together. And when I say together, I think that that is what we should be doing. We should be studying the word, the living word. See, we're not people of the book, just scripture alone.

We've studied along with the saints and Jesus and the disciples in that there is sacred scripture and sacred tradition and the Jewish community believes this as well. And so what we have in the app is bringing them together. And I believe that this is going to result in learning faster and being more accurate in how we tie this together to get a large picture, to get the big, picture of what God is telling us, what he's telling us about himself and what we're learning about ourselves. That is so cool. And get this, it's with you all the time. Everybody is carrying a smartphone with them today. Almost everybody. It'd be hard to find someone who, you know, it's hard to

find Luddites, you know, people who just are not going to use a smartphone today. And so what we've done at Ascension is we put all that together so it's in your pocket. And you can study, you can read, you can listen right there at the doctor's office. You can read, listen on a vacation, on the train to work. If you've got some extra time waiting for someone to come home, you can get into the scriptures. So that is what I just absolutely love about this. And so it has the full text of the Great Adventure Bible with the color coding system. And I love that. And then, you know, the catechism is color coded too. We call that the Foundations of Faith color coding system. That is built into the catechism. And I guess one of the things that I'm so excited about is just the beauty, the beauty

of it. There's something about the aesthetic of this app that grabs you right away. And it speaks beauty, attraction. And I like that. There's a lot of apps out there. And, you know, I'm not, I don't put any app down out there, but there's a lot of apps out there that are, are somewhat functional, but lacking on the, on the beauty side. And then there's some that look really nice, but lack on the functional side. And what Ascension app does is it brings beauty and function together and introduces you to the complete faith. You know, one of the things that I've said over and over, particularly in interviews recently, is that the catechism is such a treasure chest. It's a wealth of knowledge. And it's not just writing down

truths in the catechism. It's not just a reference book, but it is organized in such a way that it reveals something. So you have the four pillars of the catechism, and that is you have the creed number one, sacraments and liturgy number two, and you have the life of Christ, the moral law, number three, and then four is prayer. And so when you look at that big picture of the catechism, you have, number one, the story, the creed. It's the story of salvation, history, and miniature. And then how do you get into that story? Well, that's the sacraments and liturgy. What do you live in this story? Well, that's the life of Christ, the third pillar. And then prayer brings it all together into intimacy with God. And so that organization of the

catechism says something very, very important. And within those four pillars, we have hundreds and hundreds of insights on the deposit of faith that Jesus left us. Literally hundreds of hundreds of ideas and how do you how do you become a family what's the role of a man a woman raising children what about social justice what about the sacraments how do we pray what about faithfulness all of these topics are are discussed but here's an important point to remember the first pillar of the catechism is the story it is salvation history in a tightly wound form. And that story is in the Bible. And so the catechism is intimately linked to salvation history in the Bible. And one of the problems that people have in studying the catechism is they

don't link it to the story. Consequently, they learn apologetics, but not the story. How many people do you know, I know a few, that they know the apologetics of the faith, but they cannot tie it back to the story. And the problem with that is that it's hard to share with non-Catholics. But if you can tie that faith back to the Salvation History story, all of a sudden you have common ground, which is the Bible. And this is going to open it up for you. This is going to be a game changer for people sharing the faith with others. And as you know, I've argued this point for years that there is a problem in perpetually studying the faith,

but not bringing one person to Christ, not bringing one person into R-C-I-A-S-O-C-I-A. That's a problem. And that's something I'm chopping away at and I'm concerned with it. I'm praying about it. And I really believe that the Ascension app addresses this problem. We got more to talk about right after this.

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This form of prayer has helped many faithful Catholics to grow closer to Christ. The pocket guide to Novenas is your guide through 20 different novenas, 14 of which we wrote especially for this book, from a Novena to St. John Paul II, to praying the Novena for healing, or even praying for the Blessed Mother to undo knots in your life. This little book can be your go-to guide for Novenas in your home or in your travels. You can order your copy today at ascensionpress.com slash novenus. Back again, we're looking at the Ascension app today, and it is so cool.

It is so cool. Complete Bible, complete catechism, interacted with each other, and over a thousand different videos and texts and audience. files that explain the questions that you have. It's a masterpiece. It's a masterpiece. And here's a couple of other things that you can do with this tremendous app in what's available right now on it. And I say what's available now because there's some big things coming. So you have an interactive reading plan right there for both podcasts that tracks your progress. And you can you can read the Bible in chronological order. And then there's a

another really beautiful aspect to this Ascension app, and that is that you can take notes. You can quickly pick up where you left off. You can write down your reflections, and you can pray along the way. So there is a note-taking ability that makes it very personal on your part. It's their, they're your insights. It's the treasure that you've accumulated as a result of studying. And then you can bookmark wherever you're at. You can lay bookmarks into it, and you can go back to where you, you know, where you, where you just were. So I think that that is a very, very valuable, valuable tool. Now, here's what I had in mind when I, when I sat down, one of the things that got me so excited is that the app is a tremendous

tool for CCD, for educating young people, sacraments prep, confirmation prep. This is a tool where if you give a catechism and a Bible to a teenager, my hope would be that they would carry it to church to learn, you know, in their Wednesday night class or whatever night they're learning on. But oftentimes they forget or they don't bring it. But if you can introduce at the beginning of your class, the Ascension app, and everybody downloads it, then you really have a tool that's right there next to Twitter and Instagram and Snapchat and so forth. And so right there in the midst of all this, you've got the Ascension app, which is a gateway to the Word of God, sacred scripture, sacred tradition. Now, there's also another opportunity here. And I love this because

I'm a public speaker. I teach all around the country in the world. And before I speak, I'm always looking at the text that I'm going to use. And my desire would be that everybody would have an open Bible on their lap and I'd say turn to 1st Samuel chapter 8. And everybody would just simply do it. But history tells me that not everybody brings a Bible to these conferences. I remember years ago, I mean, we've come a long way, maybe. I remember years ago that when we did the Catholic National Catholic Bible Conference, one of the questions we received was, should we bring our Bible? We got a kick out of that.

It's like, seriously? It's a National Catholic Bible conference. Well, if you don't bring your Bible, here's what we can do. I can just simply say, open up the Ascension app I want you to go to 1st Samuel chapter 8. It is so fast. It is so intuitive. It is so visual. everybody can get there like in 1001, 1002, 1003, everybody's there.

And I can have them read along with me as I'm speaking. So it's a tremendous tool. Another wonderful thing that you can do with the app is it's set up right now with the Bible and the catechism is that you can put your own notes in certain scriptures, in certain places. You can put your own notes. And then when it comes to sharing with your children, you can, can have certain teachings, say for sacraments or for confession or the Blessed Virgin Mary or

faith, and you can get to them quickly and you can share with your children what the church teaches. And this is something that a lot of men are telling me, or I should say have been telling me over the years, is that I don't know enough and I don't know how to navigate. Well, most people navigate pretty well on their smartphones. And they adapt. to all of the various apps, this is one more that you can easily adapt to and you can use it in the formation of your family. So I think that that is amazing. It really is amazing. And then finally, I think one of the advantages of this is that if you are sharing the faith with someone who doesn't know the Lord or somebody who is not Catholic but is seeking, this is a tremendous

tool. You can have them download for free, the app on their smartphone, and then you can simply send them messages as to what to look up. If they say, well, I've got a question about this perpetual virginity of Mary. Okay, send them a text with the link as to where to go right there in the app. And there may be a video that you're linking to. And there's somebody who has really thought this through who can answer that question for you. I know that when Bible in a year was going on every week, I met with you, perhaps, on Facebook, and I answered five, six, seven questions a week of the difficult questions that people were writing in. And so that's over 50 episodes and then you get five, six, seven questions asked and I did videos for them.

We have hundreds of videos built right into it that just may answer the question that your friend has. So we're working together. You don't have to do everything. You don't have to know everything. You don't have to know how to answer every single question. But you can use resources. And I really believe that's what the Ascension app is all about. And then finally, one more, I do want to share this with you. What a gift to people. What a gift. Just send them.

Send them the link. Tell them it's changing your life. You want to give a gift to them. And I think it is a tremendous gift. You know, if you were to pay for something like this, this would be expensive. This would be very expensive. You have the Bible, completely. completely color-coded, the catechism color-coded, the relationship between the two of them.

You have Bible in a year, catechism in a year, thousand, over a thousand questions answered and addressed, a reading plan, a note-taking plan, and that's just the foundation. Like I said, there's more coming. There's more coming. You know, in order it reminds me of, whether you're a fan or not, he has nothing to do with this, but it reminds me a lot of Tesla. The car. People who bought the Tesla car, whether it's the three, the Y, the X, the plaid, the S, whatever, they have a basic car. But the thing that makes it go is the computer. And at night, when people are in their garage, their car's in the garage, they have a new update to the operating system, which may add more functionality. That's what we have here. We have a a foundation with the with the app that can be added to think for a moment what kinds of treasures could we add to that that would make your faith experience even more fruitful hmm oh it's going to make it exciting in the days ahead it really is hey i want to add one more thing to this before we conclude today and that it that is this we have an app yay we've got the the great adventure bible yay we

the great adventure study. Yay. We have Unlocking the mystery and all the other studies. We have the catechism. Yay. All of this is phenomenal. And there are so many great gifts out there in the Catholic Church right now that it's an embarrassment of riches. Now, there is this idea in the scripture that says, to whom much is given? Much is required. My friend, you and I have been together a long time. Some of you, it's just been recently that you joined in, but we have so much. And we're accountable. Much is required of us because of the riches that we have received. And I want to say this. The Ascension app is not just one more thing. It is not just one more thing that's going to be on your phone. It is a foundation of learning.

that you have to get into and work at it, but here's the goal. The goal is not just studying. The goal is not just acquiring knowledge. The goal is not being satisfied by all that knowledge in your pocket. The goal is to do the will of God. You are my friend Jesus says if you do what I tell you to do. The goal is to do the word of God. It is to do. It is to do. It is to do. do the will of God. And that is summed up in the Bible and the catechism. And once you begin to study this and interact with it, you have a decision to make as to whether you are going to do what he said and you're going to become an activated disciple and do what he said versus just one more thing. We don't need one more thing. We need answers to live by. We need to live by his word.

And it says in the scripture, God brought Israel out into the desert, and you know what he said? He said, I brought you out here to show you, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And I could say, in a modern setting, man does not live by apps alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And the Ascension app, hopefully, will be to you the Word of God, speak. to you and you're accountable and you put it into practice. I'd really love to hear your thoughts on the Ascension app if you want to write me the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Also, give it a like, give the show a like, and make some comments on Apple, Google,

wherever you get the podcast. Be a part of the growth of this tremendous movement in the Catholic Church these days in the area of scripture study. We have not seen this kind of growth in scripture study for decades, and you're a part of it. You're a part of it. Pass the baton.

If you want to get that app, I'll put that in the show notes for you, and you can just click on it, and then you can get the app and download it free. And of course, you know you can go where all apps are found, and you will see it probably at the top or near the top.

And that's just what's happening in the Catholic Church today. Yay. Love it. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Jesus, we love you. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the catechism. We thank you, Lord, that you see all these things together as the deposit of faith. Help us to see all these things together so that we can understand you and do what you've asked us to do. Lord, Jesus, take us to a level we've never been before. All of it is outside of our pay scale. The Lord, with you, living outside of our pay scale, is doable. And we thank you for this. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. God bless you. I can't wait to talk to you next week.