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New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

"A Liturgy for Morning Prayer," Upper Room Worshipbook

Used by permission from the Book of Common Worship, © 2018 Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved. This prayer appears in “A Liturgy for Morning Prayer” in Upper Room Worshipbook.

Practicing Compassion

Frank Rogers Jr. • January 2015

BUY eBook (Available in ePub or Kindle) $9.99

Praise for Practicing Compassion

Everybody believes in compassion, but nobody tells you how to practice it. Until now. Frank Rogers turns compassion into a doable, daily practice—as simple as catching your breath and taking your pulse. If you want to read a book that actually has the capacity to change your life (and the world), beginning today, this is the book to read.

—Brian D. McLaren
Author/speaker/blogger/activist (brianmclaren.net)

If you want clear, practical guidance on how to cultivate the inner resources to become a healing presence and force of good for the world, there is no better book than this and no better guide than Frank Rogers.

—John Makransky
Professor of Comparative Theology, Boston College
Author of Awakening through Love

Compassion is more than a sympathetic feeling—it's the bond of human connection. Most religions lift up compassion, yet few people actually teach how to practice it.

Through rich and moving stories of people from various faiths, Frank Rogers shows ways to incorporate compassion in our daily lives. His interfaith perspective on mercy, kindness, and caring for one another trains us to Pay attention, Understand empathically, Love with connection, Sense the sacredness, and Embody new life (PULSE).


Dr. Frank Rogers is the Muriel Bernice Roberts Professor of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy and the codirector of the Center for Engaged Compassion at the Claremont School of Theology. His research and teaching focus is on spiritual formation that is contemplative, creative, and socially liberative. A trained spiritual director and experienced retreat leader, Rogers has written on the interconnections between spirituality, social engagement, and compassion. He is the author of Practicing Compassion; Compassion in Practice: The Way of Jesus (and its supplemental curriculum, The Way of Radical Compassion); The God of Shattered Glass, A Novel; and Finding God in the Graffiti: Empowering Teenagers Through Stories, which explores the role of the narrative arts (storytelling, drama, creative writing, and autobiography) in the spiritual formation of marginalized and abused youth and children. Rogers lives in southern California with his wife, Dr. Alane Daugherty, with whom he shares three young adult sons, Justin, Michael, and Sammy. With his wife, he loves to run, camp, snorkel, and follow baseball.

ISBN: 978-1-935205-25-8

Kindle ISBN: 978-1-935205-26-5

EPub ISBN: 978-1-935205-27-2

Imprint: Fresh Air

Pub Date: January 2015

Trim Size: 6 in (w) x 9 in (h) x 0.309 in (d)

Page Count: 144

BISAC Categories: RELIGION / Spirituality

BISAC1: REL062000

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Everybody believes in compassion, but nobody tells you how to practice it. Until now. Frank Rogers turns compassion into a doable, daily practice—as simple as catching your breath and taking your pulse. If you want to read a book that actually has the capacity to change your life (and the world), beginning today, this is the book to read.
—Brian D. McLaren, author/speaker/blogger/activist (brianmclaren.net) Frank Rogers’s book offers a treasure trove of stories and practices to enhance the reader’s capacity for compassion. This is a wonderful book for contemplatives, pastors, lay people, seminarians—for all of us interested in deepening our ability to respond to the world with joy and love.
—Wendy Farley Professor of Religion and Ethics Emory University If you want clear, practical guidance on how to cultivate the inner resources to become a healing presence and force of good for the world, there is no better book than this and no better guide than Frank Rogers.
—John Makransky Professor of Comparative Theology, Boston College Author of Awakening through Love The result of years of study and reflective practice, PRACTICING COMPASSION invites the reader into the heart of human experience and action. Suitable for individual and group study in homes, faith communities, and academic settings, Frank Rogers's deeply sensitive work has the capacity to restore relationships and organizations. This resource offers a way for people of all backgrounds to better cultivate compassion in their daily lives, and reminds those of us who find their way in Christian communities how compassion is an integral part of the tradition.
—(The Rev.) Dr. Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook Claremont School of Theology Woven in story, human experience, and practical reflective processes, Frank Rogers’s thoughtful book, PRACTICING COMPASSION, is truly transformative. It has the capacity to move us to explore more in depth our own inner territory where we gain fresh insight into the gift of compassion. From this stance we are challenged to reach out to be bearers of healing love to a world in distress. Frank’s wisdom and gentle style of narrative is captivating and sure to touch our hearts and souls. What a treasure to anchor us in the now!
—Edith Prendergast, RSC Director of Religious Education Archdiocese of Los Angeles A world wracked with pain and violence badly needs to heed Frank Rogers’s message about the cultivation of compassion. He presents a psychologically and spiritually sound path to rejuvenating our capacity for caring connection in the midst of turbulence in the world and busyness in our daily routine. His book is inspiring, yet practical; lofty, yet grounded; challenging, yet encouraging. Rogers’s compassionate heart radiates throughout. I cannot recommend this work highly enough.
—Wilkie Au, Ph.D. Author of The Enduring Heart: Spirituality for the Long Haul This is not just a book to read; it’s a quest to undertake—slowly, page by page.The journey will take you through moments of pain and confusion, but also joy and insight. Above all, the pilgrimage will teach you how to rekindle compassion for the Divine, for yourself, and for others. What undertaking could be more worth our time and attention?
— Philip Clayton, author of In Quest of Freedom