This wonderful book of prayers, blessings, and meditations is a companion to Joyce Rupp's Boundless Compassion: Creating a Way of Life. The author is co-director of the Servite Center of Compassionate Presence and has developed a six-week Christian guide to the practice of compassion for self, others, and the world. These prayers can be used as you go through the program, or at any time when you feel the need to boost your compassionate presence.

Rupp has never been one to shy away from pain, suffering, and grief. As her books reveal, she often uses prayers to express her heart's yearning and address common concerns in everyday life. This book has resources on:

  • Compassion as a Way of Life
  • Compassion for Self
  • Compassion and Suffering
  • Compassion and Marginalization
  • Compassion for Creation
  • Compassionate Presence
  • Other Prayers of Compassion

We were especially touched by her acknowledgement that we sometimes need to release what blocks compassion: unfair judgment, negativity that keeps us from offering kindness, impatience, blaming, unwarranted irritation, fear. "We let go of anything that prevents us from being faithful to our spiritual practice, so that our compassion remains fresh and ready to be shared," she prays, adding, "Guide us in knowing what is required and what needs to be released."

Among so many resources we appreciated, we'd highlight her prayer for self-acceptance of elderhood, her prayers for refugees and endangered species, and the meditation on a pebble.

As she has done with other books, Rupp and her publisher Sorin Books give permission for the resources in the book to be copied for personal and liturgical use without first writing to the publisher. She does require that adequate acknowledgement to the source is given: "Copying published work without including the title, author, and publishing company is like visiting the home of a friend and deciding to borrow something valuable from that friend's household and then never returning it. Please take the time and have the kindness to acknowledge the source when you print something from this book."

Try a Spiritual Practice on Compassion