Cradled in the Arms of Compassion: A Spiritual Journey from Trauma to Recovery Frank Rogers Jr. “This is an amazing book that I couldn’t put down once I started it. In Frank’s brutally honest and remarkably disclosive telling of his story you will find a hope-filled model.” --Richard Schwartz, PhD, developer of the Internal Family Systems Model
“You were like this once. What did you do to get better?” A day out from a mental institution, a woman devastated by flashbacks from childhood trauma poses this question to her big brother. Within a few weeks, she took her own life. This book is the answer that her brother wished he could have offered. Spiritual director and professor Frank Rogers had been there. As a young adult, he too was tormented by trauma suffered in the same family. Wracked by depression, he was on the cliff edge of suicide. From intense despair, he set off on a quest—for answers, for sanity, for a credible God to see him through. Cradled in the Arms of Compassion is at once a narrative of psychological transformation and a spiritual autobiography that details the survivor’s journey. Rogers shows how he found recovery through a combination of reflective retreats, therapy, creative expression, and an extraordinary application of imaginative meditation, which spiritual seekers and practitioners will find utterly fascinating. The ensuing discovery evolved into the uniquely self-restorative process known as the Compassion Practice. Frank Rogers’ account reveals that a compassionate sacred presence sustains this wounded world, and that this presence can be known, even in the sewers of life’s most damaging traumas. One of the few male accounts of childhood sexual abuse and fewer still that charts a spiritual course for the transformation of trauma. “Like all good memoir, Cradled in the Arms of Compassion has a robust narrative engine – the reader is led along, page-by-page, with questions, curiosities, and a desire to see what ‘happens next.'” --Spirituality and Practice
"This is one of the most compelling books I’ve ever read. With fearless honesty, Frank Rogers shares his journey through childhood [trauma], coming close to suicide, and then gradually finding the 'sacred and sustaining' balm of compassion." --Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom
"In Frank’s brutally honest and remarkably disclosive telling of his story you will find a hope-filled model. His simple, spontaneous act of turning toward and listening to his inner tormentors rather than fighting or running from them, led him, with the help of good therapy, on a remarkable spiritual and healing journey that will inspire all who read it.” --Richard Schwartz, PhD, Founder the Internal Family Systems Institute and author of No Bad Parts
"For those who are listening there is a teaching of the way of kindness, compassion, and presence that we might learn to be companions along the way of healing of others. For all of us, the reading of these pages brings transformation and holds the possibility that the miracle of resurrection may emerge among us. Reading this book is a gift of life. Read it and share it widely.” --Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, PhD, Director for the Association of Hispanic Theological Education
“This courageous and evocative book is a powerful testimony to the heart-breaking realities of childhood [trauma] and the potential pathways to healing and restoration. Cradled in the Arms of Compassion is a gift and an essential resource for survivors, family members, practitioners, and religious communities trying to provide care in the midst of traumatic suffering.” --Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, EdD, PhD, Professor of Practical Theology, Claremont School of Theology
"With the wisdom of a sage, the genius of a master storyteller, and the tender compassion of a saint, Frank Rogers Jr. offers this memoir as an invitation to dive deep deep into the waters of human experience and bear witness to it by the power of love. And along with radical care, courage and candor, the pages are brimming forth with possibilities for hope and healing in a wounded world. --Aizaiah G. Yong, PhD, author of Multiracial Cosmotheandrism and The Pulse of Life
"Rogers offers a harrowing spiritual memoir documenting childhood abuse and trauma, and at the same time, a faithful walk in search of the divine that should be read alongside Julian of Norwich, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and all the great memoirs. --Patrick B. Reyes, PhD, Dean of Auburn Seminary, and award winning author of The Purpose Gap
"Writing with emotional honesty from the truthful depths of his soul, Frank describes his journey from the darkness of hopelessness and self-rejection to the light of healing that flows from a felt sense of God's compassionate love and from a restored capacity to embrace his wounded inner child. This fascinating memoir provides rich food for psychological and spiritual growth. --Wilkie Au, PhD, coauthor with Noreen Cannon Au of Aging with Wisdom and Grace
"Frank Rogers Jr. vulnerably shares the devastating impact of childhood sexual abuse and the intensely complex journey of healing. For any who desire to deeply understand what the healing of childhood trauma entails, Cradled in the Arms of Compassion is a must read that provides a seamless weaving of story, trauma-based healing modalities, and contemplative spiritual practices. --Janyne McConnaughey, author of Trauma in the Pews: The Impact of faith and Spiritual Practices
"No child should ever have to suffer abuse nor any adult the resulting self-loathing; but, like Dante, Frank intuits that the way 'up' to God is necessarily 'down' through sin's source where his demons are rendered in vivid personal detail, given voice by his artful writing, which turns out to be key in his healing. --David F. White, PhD, Professor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and author of Tending the Fire that Burns at the Center of the World: Beauty and the Art of Christian Formation