Boundless Compassion


Book Description

Named one of the Top 50 Spirituality Books of 2018 by Spirituality & Practice. Winner of a 2019 Catholic Press Association Award: Spirituality/Soft Cover Books (First Place) and a 2019 Association of Catholic Publishers Award: Spirituality Books (Second Place). "Living compassionately is rarely convenient and often downright challenging," writes Joyce Rupp, bestselling and award-winning author and retreat leader. The definitive Christian guide to compassion, Boundless Compassion is the culmination of Rupp's research and work as codirector of the Servite Center of Compassionate Presence. Through this six-week personal transformation process for developing and deepening compassion, Rupp nudges, encourages, and inspires you to grow in the kind of love that motivated Jesus’ life and mission for his disciples. With master teacher Joyce Rupp, you will learn to develop compassion as never before. You will discover compassion from science, medicine, theology, spirituality, sociology, and psychology. You will be encouraged to explore personal and professional expressions of compassion, and to re-energize your ability to offer loving kindness to those around you. Rupp has felt the call to walk with others in their suffering since she was a young member of the Servants of Mary, whose charism is compassion. She eventually cofounded the Boundless Compassion program with Sr. Margaret Stratman, O.S.M. Based on the format and theme of Rupp’s bestselling books like Open the Door and her popular workshops conducted by the Center of Compassionate Presence, Boundless Compassion has the power to transform your life, giving you wisdom, confidence, understanding, and inspiration to be a more caring presence. It will help you build on relational skills, learn self-care, gain wisdom for incorporating loss and suffering into your active life, and find ways to show compassion at work. By the book's end, you will feel prepared to live with a renewed commitment to a compassionate presence for yourself and those who are in the midst of pain, struggle, and transition.




Tattoos on the Heart


Book Description

How do you fight despair and learn to meet the world with a loving heart? How do you overcome shame? Stay faithful in spite of failure? No matter where people live or what their circumstances may be, everyone needs boundless, restorative love. Gorgeous and uplifting, Tattoos on the Heart amply demonstrates the impact unconditional love can have on your life. As a pastor working in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in Los Angeles, Gregory Boyle created an organization to provide jobs, job training, and encouragement so that young people could work together and learn the mutual respect that comes from collaboration. Tattoos on the Heart is a breathtaking series of parables distilled from his twenty years in the barrio. Arranged by theme and filled with sparkling humor and glowing generosity, these essays offer a stirring look at how full our lives could be if we could find the joy in loving others and in being loved unconditionally. From giant, tattooed Cesar, shopping at JCPenney fresh out of prison, we learn how to feel worthy of God’s love. From ten-year-old Lula we learn the importance of being known and acknowledged. From Pedro we understand the kind of patience necessary to rescue someone from the darkness. In each chapter we benefit from Boyle’s wonderful, hard-earned wisdom. Inspired by faith but applicable to anyone trying to be good, these personal, unflinching stories are full of surprising revelations and observations of the community in which Boyle works and of the many lives he has helped save. Erudite, down-to-earth, and utterly heartening, these essays about universal kinship and redemption are moving examples of the power of unconditional love in difficult times and the importance of fighting despair. With Gregory Boyle’s guidance, we can recognize our own wounds in the broken lives and daunting struggles of the men and women in these parables and learn to find joy in all of the people around us. Tattoos on the Heart reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.




Boundless Heart


Book Description

An esteemed Insight Meditation teacher leads you through the sublime qualities of Buddhism—kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity—and how they can enrich your life Compassion, kindness, equanimity, and joy are not only the fruits of the awakened life but also the path to it—attitudes of mind that can be cultivated through intention and dedication. Also known as the brahma viharas (sublime abodes) and the “Four Immeasurables,” these enobling qualities are far more than simply the “feel-good” states they are often mistaken for. They must be pursued sincerely as a spiritual practice—not just as a means of getting a “spiritual high”—in order to experience the full extent of their power. In Boundless Heart, Christina Feldman presents teachings on the Four Immeasurables, exploring how they balance each other in a way that enhances them all. Her simple practices will lead you toward a life infused with kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity—and to a way of being that promotes those qualities to the world at large.




Prayers of Boundless Compassion


Book Description

Compassion was the center of Jesus' ministry and his mission for his disciples—and for us. Bestselling and award-winning author and retreat leader Joyce Rupp gives you the words to develop compassion in yourself as never before and to reenergize your ability to offer loving kindness to those around you. Compassion can change a heart, change a life, change a world. But we have to learn how to be compassionate and Joyce Rupp—codirector of the Servite Center of Compassionate Presence—can guide us. Forty original prayers, blessings, and meditations by Rupp will help us practice themes of compassion: as a way of life, welcoming ourselves, the river of suffering, from hostility to hospitality, a thousand unbreakable links, and compassionate presence. To be used alone or as a helpful companion to Rupp's Boundless Compassion book and program, this collection of prayers will inspire anyone to change the world.




Barking to the Choir


Book Description

A Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries traces his experiences of working with gangs in Los Angeles for three decades, sharing what his efforts have taught him about faith, compassion, and the enduring power of radical kinship.




The Boundless Compassion Journal


Book Description

Readers of Joyce Rupp's bestselling and award-winning book Boundless Compassion and facilitators and participants in compassion retreats have told her repeatedly that they want a guided resource to process and reflect on the content of her book. The Boundless Compassion Journal is a result of those requests. While the journal can be used alongside the book or as part of the retreat experience, it also can be used on its own to help you better grow in compassion and share the virtue with those around you. Each day of the six-week personal transformation journey includes a unique prompt to guide and encourage you on your path toward deeper compassion. You will have room to reflect each day with options such as writing a personal response, exploring a scenario, creating a meditative drawing, or exploring the prompt in whatever way feels most meaningful to you. In addition, each day includes a fresh quotation that illuminates a facet of compassion. Finally, each week includes a new prayer and poem by Rupp that relates to the heart of the week's theme. Whether you come to this resource on its own, after having used the Boundless Compassion book, or have been on a retreat, this journal will help you explore deeper compassion in your life.




Radical Compassion


Book Description

What is compassion? Much more than just being nice, compassion is about looking deeply at ourselves and others and recognizing the fundamental goodness we all share. It’s about opening up to the vulnerable space inside every one of us and letting our barriers down. And it’s about daring to be present to ourselves and others with genuine love and kindness. Empowering personal awakening and social change, it might be the most radical and transformative thing we can do. The cultivation of compassion has long been at the core of Naropa University’s mission, since its origins in 1974—and its students and faculty have been leaders in contemplative education with heart. In celebration of Naropa’s fortieth anniversary, Shambhala Publications is pleased to offer these teachings on the path of compassion from a collection of authors who have helped shape the school’s unique and innovative identity, including: • Chögyam Trungpa on opening ourselves more and more to love the whole of humanity • Dzogchen Ponlop on how to cultivate altruism with the help of a spiritual mentor • Judith L. Lief on the common obstacles to compassion and how to overcome them • Gaylon Ferguson on awakening human-heartedness in oneself and society amidst everyday life • Diane Musho Hamilton on connecting to natural empathy and taking a compassionate approach to conflict resolution • Reginald A. Ray on spiritual practices for developing the enlightened mind and heart in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition • Ringu Tulku on the practices of bodhisattvas, those who devote themselves to the path of enlightenment for the sake of all beings • Pema Chödrön on building up loving-kindness for oneself and others with help from traditional Buddhist slogans • Ken Wilber on what it really means to be a support person, with reflections from his own life • Karen Kissel Wegela on avoiding caregiver’s burnout and staying centered amidst our efforts to help those in need • and reflections on Naropa University and the meaning of radical compassion from longstanding faculty member Judith Simmer-Brown




Boundless Sky


Book Description

A migrating swallow and a migrant girl cross paths while looking for a place to call home. A bird so small that it fits in your hand flies halfway around the world looking for a place to nest, while a young girl from northern Africa flees halfway around the world looking for safety. This is the story of Bird. This is the story of Leila. This is the story of a chance encounter and a long journey home. North Somerset Teachers Book Awards shortlist. Kate Greenaway Medal Nomination. “Beneath the surface, one can find many opportunities for a deep conversation about belonging, welcoming, and freedom from oppression and danger”—Youth Book Review Services “A delicate and touching little tale that packs its powerful message inside a velvet glove. Do yourselves a favor and order a copy now”—The Letterpress Project “A beautiful exploration of friendship, the parallel migrations of Bird and Leila, and the welcome they receive in their new home. Perfect for developing empathy and compassion”—Library Girl and Book Boy




The Compassion Book


Book Description

For anyone who wants more compassion in their life and in our world.




Open the Door


Book Description

The long-awaited book from best-selling spiritual guide Joyce Rupp, creatively leads readers to explore how the image of the door can guide them in a process of discovering their true self. Joyce Rupp brings new life to the ageless spiritual image of the door, weaving insights from East and West with the wisdom of contemporary spiritual writers, poets, and novelists in a practical format that is just right for contemporary readers. Structured as a daily prayer guide for everyday use over six weeks, each day offers a thematic reflection, a guided meditation, an original prayer, a thoughtful question, and a related scripture quote. A built-in guide for small groups makes this the perfect resource for groups of all kinds as well as individuals.