The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Your Catholic Swiss Army Knife (Part 2)

Episode Date: September 23, 2022

Did you know that you have access to all the tools you need to live the Catholic faith? God has given us everything we need in order to follow him. In today’s show, Jeff continues his examination of the tools we have been given to live our Catholic faith. Snippet from the Show We have all the tools we need in order to live our Catholic faith, but sometimes we forget about them. 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 Kavens show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is Show 289, your Catholic Swiss Army Knife, Part 2. Jeff Kaven's with you. Thank you for joining me. Again, I'm excited this week. I really, really am. am excited because what I started last week with your Catholic Swiss Army knife part one kind of got me excited. And so I am back for the second episode, the first episode, I gave you five tools in your Catholic Swiss Army knife that are essential for daily living. And today I've got five more for you. Hey, if you want my show notes, which I hope last week, seriously, that you did print them out and walked around for at least a day with those five tools just to show

yourself that you really do need the tools that God has given you to live out your life as an activated disciple. You really do need them. And to have tools and not use them, well, that's me. I'm just being honest with you. I have a toolbox downstairs and it's kind of a joke in our family, that I felt like as the man of the house, king of my castle, in a sense, I needed to have a toolbox with everything that you should have in your house. So in the toolbox, I've got a hammer, I've got a screwdriver, I have pliers, I have a crescent wrench, what else I have? I have a measuring tape and a ratchet. I'm surprised I even remember the names of some of these things. And anyway, I even have them set very nicely in the toolbox,

but Emily's big complaint is, why don't you use them? Because I forget. And that's one of the problems that we run into, is that we end up getting all the tools, the proper tools, in Catholicism, in our faith, and we don't use them. But I have put together for you this week. Part number two of your Catholic Swiss Army knife. I was mentioning last week, by the way, that when you're a kid growing up and you have a Swiss army knife, it's almost like you have graduated to a certain level. Your mom or your dad or your grandpa gave you an army knife or maybe they gave you a leatherman or a Gerber or something like that.

And you feel like, wow, I'm prepared now. I can go out into the world and I've got this Swiss army knife and I can tackle any situation now. And in the last trip that we went to, I don't know, five weeks ago. With our grandchildren, the two boys got their Swiss Army knife, their very first one. And when they got back into the States, my daughter told me they were out in the backyard carving wood, and it was just so much fun for them. And so I'm going to hand you, your very first Catholic Swiss Army knife. Actually, I did that last week. And this week,

I have five more tools on there. Before I tell you what these tools are, I do want to remind you, that if you want the show notes, because I've got scriptures and I've got all this listed in the show notes, all you've got to do is text my name, Jeff Kaven's, one word, Jeff Kavins, to the number, 3377. That's 3377. We'll get you the show notes in perpetuity. That means from now on you're going to get them. Well, last week in your Catholic Swiss Army Knife, part one, I mentioned to you how each one of us have been given these essential tools. by Jesus. Number one, the blade. That's the blade. That's the sword of the spirit. That's the word of God. For the word of God is living and active sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates

even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. And so that became very important. Number two, a bottle opener on your Swiss Army knife. And that's how do you open up a conversation? How do you show? How do you show? How do you share the gospel with other people with the corigma. We talked about that last week. And by the way, when we're talking about that, the key is asking questions. It's starting up a conversation by asking questions and truly being interested and fascinated by people. Third one last week was the file, and that's confession, dealing with those things that's sin in our life that is so unnecessary. Then the fourth one was the corkscrew. We're not talking about Merlot. We're not

talking about Cabernet or a Riesling or anything else. What we're talking about is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, the holy sacrifice of the mass. That is available to you on a daily basis. And I shared with you, and it's in the show notes, the Anima Christi, the blood of Christ, inebriate me. Oh, I love that prayer. And then finally last week were the scissors,

probably one of the most useful tools in the Catholic Swiss Army night. because how many times do you find yourself throughout the day having to forgive someone, release them, cut them free? I find that that one is a very valuable tool. In fact, what I ended up doing was I went out and got a sharpening stone so that I would be more effective in forgiving people. And that sharpening stone is where I spend time with Jesus or with another brother in Christ. iron sharpening iron and I become even more effective because I can forgive people. This week,

what we're going to talk about are five more tools on your Catholic Swiss Army knife. And I know I mentioned last week, in fact, I closed out the show last week by saying that it's one thing to own a multi-tool, which I'm holding here. My Swiss Army knife, it's called the Huntsman and a compact. I have a huntsman and a compact. And I also have a leatherman called the wave plus and the surge and those are my multi-tools and they man I you know it's like it's like after I bought all the camera equipment I was a photographer in my own mind and other people thought I was too and after after you know wielding these multi-tools people must think I'm a handy man but it's one thing to own a multi-tool

it's another thing to carry it it's another thing still to use it it. That's what I'm encouraging you to do. Get used to carrying your Catholic Swiss Army knife with all of these tools in it throughout the day. And to do that, you can print out the notes, carry it around for a day, and kind of get used to it. Okay, number six, picking up from last week, tweezers. You'll notice that buried in the side of your Swiss Army knife, the Catholic Swiss Army knife, that is, you'll notice that there's tweezers that you can pull out. Now, What would those be used for in your life as a Christian? Well, have you ever been in a relationship with someone where something they said?

It really isn't sin, but it irritates you. It just irritates you like a splinter. If you've ever had a splinter, which I imagine you have, it's very small, but boy, does it irritate? And if it's in your finger, you look at it and it might be just right underneath the skin there. In fact, most people wouldn't notice it, but it's just under the skin and it hurts enough to bug you throughout the day. You want to deal with it? Well, God has given us a means of dealing with these things by not only forgiving, but bearing with one another. And you can use these tweezers in your Catholic Swiss Army knife and remove these little splinters that are bugging you throughout the day.

There's no reason that you have to live your life that. way, being constantly bugged, taken off course by a little piece of wood. And then there's people that come up to you too that might be irritated by somebody else. And now suddenly you can pull out the tweezers and help them. Help them bear with one another. Help them to realize this isn't worth it. Just get over it. Get over this mild irritation. And pray for those who are mildly irritating you. It might not seem like a big deal, but boy, it can color your day. It really can. I like what it says in Matthew chapter 5, verses 23 and 24. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift

there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. So you see that little tweezer in the side of the multi-tool, it doesn't seem like a big tool, but if you've got an irritation in your life, maybe a family member or somebody at work or one of your children, well, you can deal with that. You can deal with that by having the mind of Christ and realizing what is important and what isn't important. Maybe you're angry and you're angry because it just plain inconvenienced you. Get over it. But if you're angry because there was a great injustice, that's a whole other thing.

That's a whole other thing. And there's tools for that, but we're talking about irritants right now. The second one in your Catholic Swiss Army knife is the toothpick. That's also hidden into the side of the multi-tool. You can pull it out. it's actually quite useful it's a little toothpick made out of plastic and what would that be for in your spiritual life well i i would say that that little toothpick would remind us of our mouth and what we say have you ever been talking to somebody and and they keep looking at your mouth when you're talking to

them and you're wondering to yourself is there spinach in my teeth is there something that is distracting, you know, my friend, they keep looking at my teeth and you say, excuse me, and you go use the public restroom and you look in the mirror and think, oh my gosh, I got spinach in my teeth. And that's what they've been looking at this whole time. And sometimes that can happen. Your speech can get other people's sidetracked or they begin to focus on something that you said and it causes a problem in the relationship. And the bottom line is, my friend, as a disciple of the Lord, you're responsible for every word that comes out of your mouth, and you're going to be held accountable someday for the words that you say. And if you want to read anything in the

Bible that really hits this hard, read the third chapter of James, because James spends basically a whole chapter talking about the power of your tongue, the power of your mouth, and how your mouth is like a rudder, and that rudder guides the entire ship. So listen to what James says. He says, the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no human being can tame the tongue, a restless evil full of deadly

poison. With it, we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are men. made, by the way, in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing, my brethren, this ought not to be. So that toothpick will remind you throughout the day that you are responsible for every single word you say. And your words can be a blessing or they can tear down and destroy. And as you are out there living your life and you put your hand on that multi-tool in your pocket, and all of a sudden your forefinger runs across that little toothpick. That little toothpick might be small, but it could be, in your hands, a tremendous tool,

just like the mouth. The tongue is small, but it can set on fire the whole forest. Jeremiah 1.9 says, Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, behold, I have put my words in your mouth. And in the first chapter of James, verse 26, all this is in the show notes, if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

Wow. That toothpicks kind of important, isn't it? Kind of important. People are going to listen to what you say, and your tongue has power. So there's the sixth one, the tweezer. The toothpick is number seven, number eight. Inside of the corkscrew, which I talked about last week, there is a little tiny screwdriver. I mean small. You know what it's for? It's to repair glasses. The glasses are very important in a disciple's life, an activated disciple's life, because that's the lens. That's how you see the world. And Jesus said, in Matthew 11, 28, and 29, he said, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I'll give you rest. And then he said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Now, when Jesus said, take my yoke upon you, what Jesus meant and what

every rabbi in the first century meant by take my yoke upon you was see the world the way I see the world take on my worldview and in order to do that you need to see through the eyes of jesus so that's the positive side of this you got that teeny tiny screwdriver inside the corkscrew on your swiss catholic swiss army knife and that will help you in repairing and tightening those glasses and that's the positive side of it you want to see through the lens of jesus people at work in your family your neighbors everybody else you see on TV, whatever, whoever, but there's also a caution here. You need to make sure you have the lens of Jesus that you're looking through because you are responsible for what you look at in your life. You need to take custody of your eyes. St. Alfonza said, how many are lost by

indulging their sight? That is a warning, my friend. That is a warning when you see that little tiny itty-biddy, tiny screwdriver in the corkscrew on your Catholic Swiss Army knife. Be reminded how many are lost by indulging in their sight. You need the lens of Jesus. You need to take custody of your eyes. Control what your eyes can see. That's your control. That's your control.

And with the help of the Holy Spirit aiding us, we can take custody of our eyes. Psalm 101 says, I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I'll say that again. I love it. It's Psalm 101. I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. How important that that is in our life, isn't it? It is so important that, and it's a tool that you can use all throughout the day because

You will inevitably be watching television, or you will inevitably be looking at billboards, or you'll be on the internet and looking around, and you're responsible for taking custody of your eyes. You really are. So every time I see that little tiny screwdriver in the corkscrew, I am. reminded that I'm responsible for my eyes and I was just thinking there I just I just pause there for a second because I was thinking of myself that little screwdriver is hidden in the corkscrew now the corkscrew reminds us of the body and blood soul and divinity of Jesus the blood of Christ the wine that becomes the blood of Christ this is an amazing thought and I just thought of this that that little screwdriver is hidden in the blood of Christ

the Eucharist. And so it is the blood of Christ, the graces that come from the Eucharist that give me that insight and power into how to take custody of my eyes. Hmm. I love that. This is getting more interesting. I'll tell you what.

I'm going to take a break when I come back. I have, let's see, one, two. I have two more tools, the magnifying glass and the Phillips screwdriver that I'm going to be taking a look at, and that will complete the 10 tools on our Catholic Swiss Army Knife. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. Hello, my name is Father Gregory Pine, and I'll be one of your hosts for a new podcast with Ascension called Catholic Classics. Each day, we'll read a section from a spiritual classic,

and then provide some commentary to help you grow in your life of faith, to help you grow in your life of prayer. For our first season, we'll be reading the introduction to the devout life by St. Francis DeSales. You can find your reading plan at ascensionpress.com slash Catholic Classics. I'm holding my Swiss Army knife. Right now, it's the Huntsman, and I have also the compact, and I have a Leatherman Wave Plus and a surge. These are my multi-tools. And what I'm faced with today is I'm holding these, and now I am responsible for using these. And when it comes of being an activated disciple, God has given us so many tools in our multi-tool gift, what I call the Catholic Swiss Army knife. And I've got to change my ways because I have all these tools

downstairs in my toolbox. But to be honest with you, I don't use them that much. I think Emily uses them more than I do. I have never been known as a handyman. But I want to be a handyman when it comes to my walk with the Lord. So I've got to learn to use all of these tools. Okay, so number nine, the ninth tool on my Catholic Swiss Army knife is the magnifying glass. Now, this one is very, very powerful. And this one, I don't think this is actually on mine, but this is on some of the other models. The magnifying glass is for the purpose of looking at the minutia, the things that are harder to see, harder to understand. We want to kind of blow those up a little bit so that we can see them. And this reminded me of this massive book to my left

on my desk here called the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a big book but small writing and a lot of footnotes and a lot of little quotes by saints and other writers. And so when I see the magnifying glass, I'm reminded of the minutia, the small things about our faith and the description of our faith that is so important. And I'm getting older, and I need that magnifying glass to get a hold of all that God has for me in terms of the tradition that has been handed on to us. And so I want to encourage you, as one of the tools in your daily carry, your everyday carry, the catechism is important.

And I would encourage you to begin to read the catechism. it's very easy actually to make sense of the entire catechism when you understand the four pillars. Now, a lot of people think that the catechism is just simply like an encyclopedia of all things Catholic. Well, in a way it is, but there's more to it than that. It's not just an encyclopedia. It's actually organized in a way that says something to you. And that is that there's four pillars. Number one is the creed.

Number two is the sacraments in liturgy. three is life in Christ and number four is prayer. So what do those mean? Well, the creed is number one and the creed is the story of salvation history. That's your blade on this multi-tool, the scriptures. It is salvation history in a very tightly wound form or it's the story in miniature. And so that that creed comes first because the second pillar, which is the sacraments and liturgy and the third pillar, life in Christ, and the fourth pillar of prayer, they all spring from the first one, which is the story. They spring, spring, spring from the story. And so start reading the creed in the catechism and watch the story expand. And then you move on to the second pillar,

which is the sacraments in liturgy, and that's how you get into the story, the amazing story of God. And then the third one is life in Christ. What's that? Well, that's your, script on what to live in the story and then prayer that that penetrates all of it prayer individually and corporately so this magnifying glass will remind you of so much that's been given to us than the older you get you just might need a magnifying glass to read some of this but go after it that's number nine and then number 10 the 10th tool is the phillips screwdriver that's that screwdriver that the end is kind of shaped like a like a little star it's not like a regular old-fashioned screwdriver you know with flat edge but it's more like a little star and for me you know

what that stands for well when things are loose in my life when things are not working correctly when when things are out of alignment sometimes you need a screwdriver driver to tighten those things down. And so the Philip screwdriver on my Catholic Swiss Army knife is the examiner. Now, what is the examined prayer? Well, it was developed by St. Ignatius. And the examined prayer is what we do at the end of the day where we take a moment and we just look back on our day and we examine our day. And Lord, how did I do? And we start off by praising God for all his gifts. And then we take a look at at our day and how it went and it's not a time for major major tweaking it's a time to look back and to see you know are there things that are out of whack that day that we need to tighten up

that you know that that aspect of our life i know what you're thinking right now you're saying jeff i know you and you do have a screw loose but perhaps i do perhaps i do and from time to time okay, I'll admit it. I do. But the disciples Philip screwdriver helps me to tighten up what has become loose throughout the day and prepare myself for tomorrow and ask myself, what do I need to do tomorrow to make good on today and how do I prepare for tomorrow? And tightening everything down, I think, is a good thing to do. How did I do good and bad? And then deal with it and prepare for the next day. So this little Philip screwdriver, the examined prayer, will help me as a disciple of Jesus. So there they are.

Ten little tools that will help you as a disciple to live the life that God has called you to live. Never be caught without it, your Catholic Swiss Army knife. Never leave home without it. Always have one in your pocket. And you're ready to go. You're ready to go. Now, I mentioned this last week, and I really mean it, print these out. Take last week's notes and this week's notes, print them out.

Might want to even write them down on a little index card or put them in your smartphone. And throughout the day, just, you know, give it a look. Remind yourself of the 10 tools that God has given you to live your life on a daily basis and look for opportunities when you might pull out that Phillips screwdriver, or the magnifying glass or the toothpick or the scissors or the file or the blade and put them to work in your life. I like what the scripture says. It says that faith without works is dead. And if we're going to be the disciples that the Lord has called us to be, we've got to go beyond having the equipment. We have to put it into practice on a daily basis. And hey, this can be a

wonderful tool for you to teach your kids at dinner or before they go to bed or in the morning is to get some kind of like multi-tool like this and just go over this with them. Teach your grandchildren, the basic tools that God has given them and talk to them about how you use it in your own life. What a great teaching tool. So again, it's one thing to own a multi-tool. It's another thing to carry it with you and still another to you. it. I pray you well. Well, man, this has been fun. Thank you for joining me on these two shows where we've been talking about our Catholic Swiss Army knife. I'd love to hear from you. I really would. And I would appreciate you liking the show, making comments. It does something for the

algorithm that will help other people discover this phenomenal Catholic multi-tool for their life. And you and I can work together that way. So I appreciate you doing that. I really do. Taking the time to make a comment or liking it or sharing it with your friends. It goes a long, long way. Well, after talking about these 10 tools, can I pray for you? I love you, and I enjoy so much praying for you and lifting you up to the Lord. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, thank you again for equipping us as your disciples. You've given us so much. Lord, may we not just be people who talk about the faith, but may we put it into practice us and use the tools that you have given us.

Our dear mother, Mary, thank you for praying for us, that we would be effective in serving your son, Jesus Christ, son of the carpenter, the greatest builder ever. We thank you for giving us the ability to use these tools that have been given to us by your son. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. God bless you, my friend. Have an amazing week.