An inductive study in four sessions of about ninety minutes, written for a leader who is not a theologian. It answers one question, the one that people who love Jesus actually put to Catholics: why add all this extra stuff, why not just a relationship with Jesus? The study agrees with the half of that question that is true, then answers the rest from Scripture. Session 1 sets a Roman centurion who says a word is enough beside a blind man whose eyes Jesus packs with mud, and asks why Jesus chose the mud when he did not need it. Session 2 is the hinge of the study: the cross was finished once for all, and the Mass does not repeat it. Session 3 traces where the shape of the Mass came from, from the road to Emmaus to a description written down in AD 155, and sorts the rite into what Christ instituted, what the Church received, and what the Church arranges. Session 4 covers repeated prayer, the Hail Mary, the rosary, scapulars and other sacramentals, and says plainly what a Catholic is required to do and what is only offered. Every session builds the strongest Protestant reading of the key text at full strength before answering it, and the answer comes from the text rather than from authority. On the first night each person seals a written answer to one question, what can you offer God to gain entrance into heaven, and the envelopes open at the start of Session 2. Every session carries Old Testament roots and their fulfillment, three Voices of the Church marked as either direct citation or honest summary, Catechism connections, a leader-only Thread Watch, and an Objection Bench for the questions a room may raise. Each session has 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.
It Is Finished runs 4 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 It Is Finished. 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.