A twelve session inductive study of Christian prayer, read with two Doctors of the Church, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, and written for a leader who is not a theologian. It opens with the call every baptized person receives, that it is not difficult to be a saint, and with the cost that call carries in the rich young man who went away sad. From there it turns inward to the inner room where the Father sees in secret, to the tent where the Lord spoke to Moses as a man speaks to his friend, and out into the desert where God allures his people and speaks to their heart. The middle of the study takes the hardest ground honestly: the dark night, where Job, Psalm 88, and the cry from the cross are read together, and where the answer each person sealed on the first night is opened and tested. The last movement follows water and flame, living water promised at the well and poured out at the feast, the Song of Songs and the garden on Easter morning, abiding in the vine, the living flame of love, Martha and Mary held together, and the judgement on love at the end. St. John Paul II and Venerable Jan Tyranowski appear throughout as living proof that this tradition belongs to lay people. Three mechanics are particular to this study. On the first night each person seals a private answer to one question, what is actually happening when God feels absent in prayer, and the envelopes open in Session 6. Discovery moments hold the questions a group answers from the text itself before any explanation is offered. Build, then press boxes state the strongest objection at full strength before it is answered. Every session carries Old Testament roots and their fulfillment, Voices of the Church, Catechism connections, and a leader-only Thread Watch. Each session has a Leader Preparation Guide, a Discussion Guide, and a Leader Reference Card listing every passage in order, and is written for 75 to 90 minutes. Scripture follows the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. Leader guides and take-home sheets for every session.
Deep Calls to Deep runs 12 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.
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 Deep Calls to Deep. 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.