Ascension: Catholic Bible

I am 80 years old and a cradle Catholic. When I was young, we were told not to read the Bible. After Vatican 2; that changed and Scripture in the Mass readings were a rich and wonderful thing. At about 40, I actually read the Bible from cover to cover. There were so many stories I had never heard before, but were memorable. There were whole chapters, especially those with the chronologies and battles that eluded me. I never thought to check out maps of the ancient world. Mostly, I did not understand that I was reading a whole, unified story.i truly was reading the Bible , but not praying it or thinking about how it was also my story. Fast forward to 2023 when. My parish priest recommended that we consider doing the Catechism in a Year with Father Mike. I signed up. After 3 Days, I looked up the information on Bible in a year. Yes. I did both, and loved every single day. The BIY , because of its organization around the narrative, Father Mike’s and Jeff Cavins’ insightful commentaries, and the loving prayers each day made the Scriptures truly become living words. Father Mike’s expressive reading was amazing. The Catechism in a Year answered so many questions that I had or did not know I had. I thought “ah ha” so that is why or “I did not know that.” It filled in so many gaps in my knowing about the beauty of our faith. I was surprised by how readable it was, and how it was obviously was a work of love on the part of all who worked on it. This has been a deeply rich experience for me , and I am filled with gratitude. I promise to pray for all those who are doing, have done or will do these studies. I have been and will continue to pray for Father Mike, Jeff Cavins and all the people at Ascension Press. Thank you. Dorothy Lindsay

I completed Bible in a year and then thought about repeating it as there’s so much information I knew I could gleam the second time through. I did consider catechism in a year, but I wasn’t sure if it would be interesting enough to give a whole year to it. I’ve never looked at the catechism, or I should say since I was in junior high, so it was a foreign book to me by this time. Jeff Cavins, and father, Mike Schmitz took off, running with catechism in a year! The groundwork they laid was so exciting, and the way they talked about the changes that would happen for you, I wanted in. Now I am very early in the program, but I can tell you it is profoundly interesting and Like Bible in a year I do believe them when they say catechism in a year will change you. Let me explain. When some thing interests you intellectually it will stay in the forefront of your brain and that means you will think on it often-this equals a form of meditation! Whatever you meditate upon will produce changes in your heart! (Remember, this can work both ways good and bad) Since we’re here for the good and the program is for a year I’ll update with specifics (even personal changes/challenges)and let you know if it stays on its current trajectory or if we fall off….Tj

Bible in a year? How about the Bible 2 times a year or 3 or 4! I’ve been waiting years for a true Catholic audio Bible. A couple years ago when I was listening to The Bible in a Year with Father Mike I requested that Ascension turn his Bible narration into an audiobook since as far as I could find there were only 2 versions, a very old (1940’s or 50’s maybe) Douay-Rheims that has missing parts and a variety of narrators and a King James. Catholics have desperately needed an updated audio Bible. Well, they’ve done what I asked! Perhaps many people made this request because there is a dearth of full Catholic audio Bibles while Protestants have an absolute plethora. We too should know the Bible as well as Protestants do since “The Bible is a Catholic Book” (Jimmy Akin). If you listen for an hour a day you can potentially listen to the Bible 3-4 times per year. If you speed it up, and Ascension has inclued this function, you could listen even more. Thank you Ascension for giving us this great gift! I’m sure the rest of the app is as useful as the audio Bible but, personally, I only have eyes for the audio Bible. There is no audio for the Catechism but I’m sure that will be available sometime next year after Father Mike has finished narrating it.