A Sneak Peek at Ascend

What is Ascend?

Ascend is a lectionary-based resource that walks any reader through the Sunday Mass readings (from the first Sunday in Advent all the way through Christ the King). Ascend provides clarity to the readings by overviewing important connections, word definitions, background information, and challenges the reader to reflect on the readings through prayer, journaling, and action. Ascend successfully educates and empowers us to be fully ready to receive the Word of God at Mass on Sunday.

How can I use Ascend?

Ascend is designed to be a self-guided study but can be utilized in a youth group setting – either in conjunction with Life Support’s Summit Leader’s Guide as a student journal (which we highly recommend) or on its own. Ascend is also the perfect gift for your teens, Core Members, and parishioners!

How can I Buy Ascend?

Ascend is currently available for pre-order​ in our store. Shipping will begin mid-December, but the first month is available for download.

A Preview

If you’re curious about what’s inside this book, check out this excerpt from the first Sunday of Advent:

​”We are a culture terrible at waiting. We are a microwave, ATM, movies on-demand kind of society. We are a text-happy, push notification people with express checkout and overnight delivery. We are a fast food culture, but we sometimes forget that this God we love and serve most often moves at a crock-pot pace. This is painful for us, His impatient children. God doesn’t mind keeping us waiting. One day for God is like a thousand “human” years (2 Peter 3:8).

With Christmas fast approaching, it gets more and more difficult to “wait” on the coming of the Lord. We want the Santa decorations put out before we’ve even had a chance to put the Halloween decor away. Saint Paul recognized this impatient, human longing; it’s why he had to remind and encourage the Christians living in Corinth in this Second Reading to be patient. He implored them, “as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ… keep firm to the end… because God is faithful.”

We can trust Isaiah’s words in the First Reading, that the Lord will come in glory “for the sake of his servants.” God will send us a redeemer precisely because He loves us! While we wait, we need to be patient, watchful, living our lives in such a way that we are ready for His return.

God doesn’t tell us the exact time He will come, but that is precisely because He loves us. For if we knew the exact date, how many of us would live sinfully until the last day, only to repent at the last moment? Knowledge of God’s exact plan and timing could breed even more sin than ignorance of God. In this way, we are reminded to keep watch, to always be ready, and to be patient with the Lord. Unlike the habits instilled by our modern culture, the best thing (God) is worth the wait.​”

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