Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion (U)

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. publishers Weekly in This Artful, Disquieting, Yet Surprisingly Jubilant Memoir, Jesuit Priest Boyle Recounts His Two Decades Of Working With homies In Los Angeles County, Which Contains 1,100 Gangs With Nearly 86,000 Members. Boyle s Homeboy Industries Is The Largest Gang Intervention Program In The Country, Offering Job Training, Tattoo Removal, And Employment To Members Of Enemy Gangs. Effectively Straddling The Debate Regarding Where The Responsibility For Urban Violence Lies, Boyle Both Recounts The Despair Of Watching the Kids You Love Cooperate In Their Own Demise And Levels The Challenge To Readers To stand In Awe At What The Poor Have To Carry Rather Than Stand In Judgment At How They Carry It. From Moving Vignettes About Gangsters Breaking Into Tears Or Finding Themselves Worthy Of Love And Affirmation, To Moments Of Spiritual Reflection And Sidesplittingly Funny Banter Between Him And The Homies, Boyle Creates A Convincing And Even Joyful Treatise On The Sacredness Of Every Life. Considering That He Has Buried More Than 150 Young People From Gang-related Violence, The Joyful Tenor Of The Book Remains An Astounding Literary And Spiritual Feat. (mar.)