For twenty years, Gregory Boyle has run Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention program located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, the gang capital of the world. In Tattoos on the Heart, he distills his experience working in the ghetto into a breathtaking series of parables inspired by faith.
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 gentle, hard-earned wisdom.
These essays about universal kinship and redemption are moving examples of the power of unconditional love and the importance of fighting despair. Gorgeous and uplifting, Tattoos on the Heart reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.
Product Features
- essays universal kinship redemption unconditional love fighting despair
Tatoos on the Hearts brings tears from your soul! Whenever Fr. quotes one of the “homies,” I cannot help but cry. The simple yet deep wisdom they speak makes this very slow and prayerful reading. I have to stop and meditate. It is hard only because I also want to rush through the pages. The writing is fascinating and inspired! It’s on my kindle, but know it’s a book I want on my shelves. This is gospel!
A Spiritual Classic! I heard Fr. Greg Boyle speak a few years ago at a conference in Los Angeles and he is without question the best speaker I have ever heard. What is so impressive about his faith journey is that it is lived. The stories of human transformation described in the book are some of the most moving and inspiring spiritual narratives that I have encountered. At a time when it is so easy to become so cynical about institutional faith his writing breaks through with a spiritual force that reminds us of…
Every human being should read this book It’s about what it means to be human, to seek the goodness within ourselves and everyone and everything around us. It is thoroughly entertaining, instructional, thought-provoking, inspirational, faith-restoring… I am halfway through the book and torn between devouring the rest in one sitting or drawing it out as long as possible. It’s one of those books that you know you will be sad when you reach the end because you loved it so much.