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Holy Vulnerability: A Spiritual Path for Those with Cancer

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In her capacity as a pastor, Schaper is knowledgeable about spirituality in all circumstances, but it is her role of breast cancer survivor that inspired this book that melds the practical with the philosophical. She addresses her topic in short chapters based on what she terms the dimensions of a spiritual path for those with cancer. Each chapter includes three exercises that call for reflection and action. Not surprisingly, Schaper returns frequently to the question of control, the desire for it and the impossibility of exercising it as a cancer patient. Control, she writes, "insists on determining reality." Her alternative, compassion, "lets reality have its own free will." In the accompanying exercise, Sharper suggests finding someone in need of compassion, as you yourself are, figuring out a simple act to offer that person, and carrying it out, perhaps anonymously.

Other unique aspects of this work include discussions about telling others, particularly children, about your disease, managing pain, and dealing with mortality. The book concludes with twenty prayers for those with cancer, with titles ranging from Prayer during Radiation to Prayer to Lighten Anger, and an extensive bibliography for those with cancer