An inductive study on grief, loss, and suffering in six sessions of 75 to 90 minutes, written for a leader who is not a theologian. It is built for a parish room with grief actually in it, not for a room studying grief from a safe distance, and it runs from the tears of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus, through the lament psalms and the question of Job, to the Man of Sorrows, suffering joined to Christ, and the promise that every tear is wiped away. On the first night each person writes a private answer to one question, where is God when we suffer, seals it, and does not see it again until Session Four, when the sheets are opened at the foot of the Cross and the question is asked once more, in the open, on the final night. Session Two puts Psalm 88 in front of the group, the psalm that ends in darkness with no turn to praise, and Session Three lets God overrule the friends who explained Job's suffering to him. Every session builds one hard objection at full strength before pressing it, starting with the sentence people actually hear at funerals. The leader is handed the minute-long silences, the pastoral cautions, the words to retire from his own mouth, and a last night that names the beloved dead aloud. Each session carries a Leader Preparation Guide, a Discussion Guide, and a Leader Reference Card listing every passage in order. Scripture follows the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. Leader guides and take-home sheets for every session.
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn runs 6 sessions. Every session comes with a complete leader's preparation guide and a printable take-home sheet for the people in the room, and the full text of each night can be read on a phone from the list below. All of it is free to download, print, and share, with no sign up and no cost.
How these studies were created, including our use of AI
Every session below carries three links. Read opens the full session on a phone, Sheet downloads that night's participant take-home sheet, and Leader opens the leader's guide for that session. Nothing is held back and nothing asks for an email address.
You do not need to be a theologian to lead Blessed Are Those Who Mourn. The leader's guide carries the questions, the answers, and the background, so the group can discover the text together. There is a short guide to hosting a Bible study if this is your first one, and a set of six questions that will help you choose a study if you are still deciding.