For twenty years, Father Gregory Boyle has run Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention program located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles--also known as the gang capital of the world. In Tattoos on the Heart, he has distilled 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.
