By Clement Harrold

February 12, 2026

Have you been searching for a way to rekindle or grow deeper in your relationship with the Lord Jesus? Have you considered studying Scripture a part of your Lenten practices?

This Lent, the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology invites you to encounter Christ as your Teacher and Lord through the words of holy Scripture. Make Bible study a part of your Lenten devotions with the help of the St. Paul Center’s brand-new season of Bible Across America, hosted by theologian Dr. Shane Owens.

Deepen your faith alongside leading theological experts and Catholic speakers, including Megan Hjelmstad, Fr. Dave Pivonka, T.O.R., Dr. John Bergsma, and Emily Stimpson Chapman. Each week, join Dr. Owens and his guests for thought-provoking, invigorating, and prayerful discussions that help you foster your relationship with Jesus Christ and share His love with others.

America’s Largest Bible Study

In their 1966 Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, the U.S. Catholic bishops recommended “spiritual studies, beginning with the Scriptures” (#14) as a key Lenten devotion. By signing up for Bible Across America, you’ll be answering that call in an intentional way alongside thousands of other Catholics across the nation.

You can undertake this study either on your own or in a group, and together we’ll be journeying toward Easter using the Scriptures as our light and guide. Over the course of the Lenten season we’ll be reading and reflecting on a variety of Gospel passages, including the temptations in the wilderness, the wedding at Cana, and the raising of Lazarus, as well as the passion, death, and Resurrection of Our Lord.

By signing up for Bible Across America, you’ll receive weekly access to an amazing and insightful video discussion between the four presenters and their host Dr. Owens. You’ll also be sent additional devotional and study content on the Scripture passages for that week, plus you’ll be able to purchase a printed participant study guide to further enrich your reflection on God’s Word this Lent.

A Community of Disciples

Bible Across America is motivated by the knowledge that approaching Sacred Scripture can be both daunting and exciting. On the one hand, the Bible is a big book—or, more accurately, a library of books—and it isn’t always easy to understand what a particular passage is saying to us. On the other hand, anyone who’s taken the time to sit prayerfully with the Gospels or the Psalms will have experienced something of the power and beauty which is to be found in God’s Word.

In this nationwide Bible study, our goal is to read Sacred Scripture from the heart of the Church. In other words, it’s about reading the Bible the way it was supposed to be read: not in isolation, but in communion with the whole body of believers: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20).

By uniting us with the other members of Christ’s Mystical Body, Bible Across America will teach us about the irreplaceable role that our own personal story plays within the wider story of salvation history.

Through journeying together toward the Cross and the empty tomb, we’ll come to discover, like the disciples at Emmaus, that Jesus was walking with us every step of the way: “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)

Encountering Jesus as Teacher and Lord

The theme for this year’s Bible Across America is “Teacher and Lord,” which comes from the description Jesus gives of Himself at the Last Supper: “You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am” (John 13:13).

In these two titles, we encounter the mystery of Redemption that we meditate on in a special way during Lent and Eastertide. While Jesus is repeatedly called Teacher by His followers, the fourfold Gospel witness also challenges us to examine what is meant by the confession that Jesus is Lord.

Through Bible Across America, we’ll rediscover how Jesus is the divine Lord who became man to teach us in word and deed. By means of prayerful reflection on a selection of biblical stories, we’ll renew our encounter with the One who desires to be our Teacher and Lord so that we can follow Him on the Way, know His Truth, and abide steadfastly in His Life.

Sign Up Today

Sign up to Bible Across America for FREE at stpaulcenter.com/lent.