Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

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Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

4.35 of 5 stars 4.35 · rating details · 2,045 ratings · 517 reviews

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 wor...more 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.(less)

Hardcover, 240 pages

Published March 9th 2010 by Free Press (first published 2010)

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Jul 07, 2010 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, autobiography, biography

From My Blog...[return][return]Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle is a deeply moving, heartwarming series of essays from some of the most memorable times of Father Boyle’s career. Father Boyle has been a Jesuit Priest for 25 years working with many sections of the population that others deem frightening at best, including his work at his beloved Dolores Mission and the creation of Homeboy Industries (which is brilliant and what he refers to as a “tiny drop in a pretty big bucket” yet one we a...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Liz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: every Christian

Shelves: nonfiction, inspirational, spiritual, favorites, own

It is interesting to me that if you read about people who work with the most wounded of human beings, they tend to have a very expansive view of God and a very inclusive Christian theology.

Fr. Greg Boyle works with Latino gangs in the public housing projects of LA. (I could have said "gang-infested" projects but Fr. Boyle makes a point in the book about language which brings shame to "life and love challenged" kids- I mean what do you think of when you say something is "infested"?) Instead he...more It is interesting to me that if you read about people who work with the most wounded of human beings, they tend to have a very expansive view of God and a very inclusive Christian theology.

Fr. Greg Boyle works with Latino gangs in the public housing projects of LA. (I could have said "gang-infested" projects but Fr. Boyle makes a point in the book about language which brings shame to "life and love challenged" kids- I mean what do you think of when you say something is "infested"?) Instead he says, "Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment of how they carry it."

The book is divided into chapters that stress a theological point and then he illustrates it with stories from his 20 years as director of Homeboy Industries, the ministry he started to help willing kids get a job and get out of the gang life.("parables inspired by faith") Unfortunately, many of the stories end in funerals since the sense of worthlessness among these "throw-away" kids is very deep. What I liked is that he didn't go into blame. Blame leads to shame which excludes the possibility of grace and hope.

Instead he chooses love and compassion, expressed most often as just listening, calling them by their true names, and finding a place for them as equals in the world. (Though he shares some stories where he does get mad when kids self destruct.) So be prepared for some tears as these essays and short "sermons" do pull at your heart strings. The little sermonettes are often enriched by quotes from some of my favorite authors and poets: Pema Chodron, Marcus Borg, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickenson, Richard Rohr, Al Sharpton(!),James Gilligan and Mother Teresa. (A companion book might be Borg's "The Heart of Christianity")

One minor complaint is how often he uses latino language which at first was educational, but later began to bother me. I'd have to stop the sentence flow and translate ( not being good at languages made it a problem for me) and I don't recall any stories from the last 10 years. Perhaps it takes time to reflect but most of the book takes place 10-20 years ago.
And a caviat -The reasons given for showing compassion are wrapped in Judeo-Christian theology. Compassion and love, however, are not unique to Christianity. "Standing with" the poor is the heart of any spirituality or religion expressed in hundreds of versions of the "golden rule".
That does not change the impact of the wisdom in this book. For many Christians, it will open your heart to realize that your God has been too small.
(less)

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May 13, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction-religion-spirituality

The website caption for Fr. Greg Boyle's organization reads: "Homeboy Industries assists at-risk and formerly gang-involved youth to become positive and contributing members of society through job placement, training and education." While apparently accurate, having read about his experiences first hand it seems like a bit of an understatement.

Tattoos on the Heart contains the insights received by Fr. Boyle through his work in the gang capital of LA. Powerful almost seems an understatement as yo...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Shelli rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-of-2012

This book makes me want to love better. PERIOD. I have never had such a clear picture of how God loves even me... especially me. Everyone should read this book and buy 10 copies to give away. All proceeds go to Homeboy Industries.

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May 19, 2013 Natalie_honarchian rated it 4 of 5 stars

I chose the book Tattoos on the Heart because I was interested in learning more about gang life (I don't know why) and I was curious about reading books about religion. In Tattoos on the Heart, Father Gregory, also known as G-dog, tells the readers many stories of recovered and recovering gang members and ties it in with the great works of God. He shares true stories of gang members that regain their potentials in life and some who die in devastating ways. My favorite quote is when G-dog says "w...more

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May 01, 2013 Carter West rated it 5 of 5 stars

Come and enjoy hope with a capital "H." Boyle, a Jesuit priest, is the founder and CEO of Homeboy Industries, a non-profit providing employment opportunities for the gangbangers of Latino Los Angeles. It's all genuinely uplifting, made the more so because you get to see the organizational and personal machinery behind the lift. There's lots of loss here. Young people who have taken the road to recovery are gunned down by enemies they've left behind, gang-runners who haven't taken their path. But...more Come and enjoy hope with a capital "H." Boyle, a Jesuit priest, is the founder and CEO of Homeboy Industries, a non-profit providing employment opportunities for the gangbangers of Latino Los Angeles. It's all genuinely uplifting, made the more so because you get to see the organizational and personal machinery behind the lift. There's lots of loss here. Young people who have taken the road to recovery are gunned down by enemies they've left behind, gang-runners who haven't taken their path. But there's far much more life here. The literate learn to read, those leaving jail find work, even tattoos are removed (as much as lasers can manage). And all this is raucous and profane as well as touching. (My favorite moment: one homie calls in sick to work suffering from "anal blindness." "Yeah, I just can't see dragging my ass in to work today.") It's clear, though, that the work succeeds only because Boyle and his homie-volunteer staff remain utterly unattached to results, leaning instead on the power of God's grace.

The book steadily segues between spicy, touching anecdotes of recovery and Boyle's understated musings on the holy presence at the center of it all: "the power of boundless compassion," as the subtitle has it. This ministry is a high-risk involvement - as is the book. Both take no fancy turns or presume any high truths, all that would fall into cliché (the author's Christianity is clear yet to my taste unobtrusive.) Boyle takes on the risks, sidesteps the pitfalls of this genre by confessing and showing this: he only witnesses to these lost lives retrieved, or maybe provides an opening, but that's all. That may be the most impressive feature of the book. Boyle seems to be a genuinely humble man, enough to consistently use the "I" word only as another of a cast of characters, not at all as some misbegotten protagonist. It's that old "glory to God" thing, y'know? It's short: 216 small pages. And pithy, rich, cathartic, riddled with darkness and bright with the dawn - go read it!(less)

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Jan 28, 2013 Jerry rated it 5 of 5 stars

Gregory Boyle invests his over twenty years relating to gangs in Los Angeles, California. These are a series of essays full of tragedy, humor, hope, despair and unconditional love for the people he meets.

The difference he makes is that he looks and sees underneath the tattoos, the snarls, feigned indifference, rough and dangerous lives of the gang members, are people of value, worthy of God's love. They respect him, seek him out and find in him an amazing ability to accept them as they are and...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Greta rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This book is written by a Jesuit priest, Gregory Boyle, who takes on as his calling helping the latino gang members of East LA get out of the gangs. He does this by starting a business called Homeboy Industries and then hiring anyone serious about escaping the gang life, no matter if they know how to hold down a job or not. All the ex-gangsters work side-by-side regardless of their gang affiliation, and as they do that they re-form their allegiances. Gregory Boyle introduces us to kid after kid...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Libby rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-issues

This book is so beautiful and so intense and so accessible. Took me a long time reading it because I'd cry every few pages. I have got to reread the chapter on Success and reflect on its bearing on CGF. It should be noted that excessive god-talk is usuallly enough for me to put down a book, but here I found it tolerable.

P.136
"Once a homie said, "Can I give a tip to the waitress?" And when she arrived, he said, "Just say no to drugs." His homie adding, "Don't run with scissors.""

P.72 "the strateg...more This book is so beautiful and so intense and so accessible. Took me a long time reading it because I'd cry every few pages. I have got to reread the chapter on Success and reflect on its bearing on CGF. It should be noted that excessive god-talk is usuallly enough for me to put down a book, but here I found it tolerable.

P.136
"Once a homie said, "Can I give a tip to the waitress?" And when she arrived, he said, "Just say no to drugs." His homie adding, "Don't run with scissors.""

P.72 "the strategy of Jesus is not centered in taking the right stand on issues, but rather in standing in the right place - with the outcasts and those relegated to the margins.
Once the homeless began to sleep in the church at night, there was always the faintest evidence that they had. Come Sunday morning, we'd foo foo the place as best we could... About the only time we used incense at Dolores Mission was on Sunday morning, before the 7:30 a.m. Mass crowd would arrive. Still, try as we might, the smell remained. The grumbling set in, and people spoke of "churching" elsewhere.
It was at about this time that a man drove by the church and stopped to talk to me. He was Latino, in a nice car, and had arrived at some comfortable life and living. He knew I was the pastor. He waxed nostalgic about having grown up in the projects and pointed to the church and said he had been baptized and made his first communion there.
Then he takes in the scene all around him. Gang members gathered by the bell tower, homeless men and women being fed in great numbers in the parking lot. Folks arriving for the AA and NA meetings and the ESL classes.
It's a Who's Who of Everybody Who Was Nobody. Gang member, drug addict, homeless, undocumented. This man sees all this and shakes his head, determined and disgusted, as if to say "tsk tsk."
"You know," he says, "This used to be a church."
I mount my high horse and say, "You know, most people around here think it's finally a church."
Then I ride off into the sunset.
Roll credits.
"

(less)

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Jul 07, 2012 Chip Watts rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was really very good. I gave it 4 stars. It was referrenced on The God Journey podcast and one of those guys described it as "a real page turner". I downloaded it from iTunes (my first electronic book that I had to pay for - I've just read the free ones before). This is the well written aoutobiography of a Jesuit priest (don't let that put you off) who served for many years in the heart of the worst gang infested neighborhoods of LA.
This is a book about loving the unlovely. This guy exempl...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Miss Karen Jean Martinson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Everyone needs to read this book. And you know what, everyone should buy this book (all proceeds go to Homeboy Industries (and because I like to practice what I preach, I just bought a copy for my mom)), read it many times, and then buy copies for everyone in their lives. Father Gregory - G-dog to the homies - allows us to see the Homeboys and Homegirls the way he sees them. Through his stories and reflections, we can look past the tattoos and the hardness and instead see their light and their g...more

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May 26, 2012 Connie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: autobiography, faith, forgiveness, inner-city, inspirational, life-issues, prejudice

Based on his book, Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest, truly earned the California Peace Prize. This story of the lives and deaths and families of the young people he serves at Delores Mission in Boyle Heights nestled between two large public-housing projects riveted me, bringing forth both laughter and tears, despair and hope.

"Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a covenant between equals."

"We have grown accustomed to think that loving as God does is hard. We t...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Telaina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book by a priest that even an agnostic or an atheist could love? This is it, absolutely. Father Greg Boyle has written an honest, stunning memoir about his life with the "homies" in Los Angeles. During his tenure working in barrios and with gang members, "G-dog" has buried 168 young men due to random gang violence.

Father Greg touches on how small we try to make God and ferociously sheds light on our pious and puritan superiority of how much better "we" (supposedly) are than the poor and those...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Webster Bull rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am enthralled. Tattoos on the Heart, by Jesuit priest Gregory Boyle, is a constant inspiration, from paragraph to paragraph, chapter to chapter. Buy it, read it, then read it again.

I downloaded the audiobook thanks to a tip from a friend, and I had heard it all in 48 hours, thanks to a round-trip Boston-New York solo car ride, complete with iPhone, Audible.com app, and ear buds. The beauty of the audio version is that it is read by the author, over 30 years a Jesuit and founder of Homeboy Ind...more I am enthralled. Tattoos on the Heart, by Jesuit priest Gregory Boyle, is a constant inspiration, from paragraph to paragraph, chapter to chapter. Buy it, read it, then read it again.

I downloaded the audiobook thanks to a tip from a friend, and I had heard it all in 48 hours, thanks to a round-trip Boston-New York solo car ride, complete with iPhone, Audible.com app, and ear buds. The beauty of the audio version is that it is read by the author, over 30 years a Jesuit and founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. It is read with deep feeling and a convincing Spanish accent too. (Ninety-nine percent of gang members in LA today are Latino, so there’s a smattering of Spanish thrown into the text, reflecting the lingo of Boyle’s daily ministry.)

Begun as an outreach to gang members at the poorest parish in the LA archdiocese, Homeboy Industries has grown into a conglomerate offering gang members the one ticket out of the projects: a job. Businesses include a bakery and Homegirl Café, where waitresses offer attitude with your entree. Some businesses started but soon stopped, Homeboy Plumbing Services, for example. As Boyle jokes, homeowners didn't want gang members in their houses. “Who knew?!”

The book is a collection of stories, most of which were homilies first. After a short introduction giving the author’s bio and the genesis of Homeboy Industries, there follows a bittersweet mix of triumph and tragedy. Boyle (known as “G” to the “homies”) had officiated at 173 funerals of gang members by the time this book was written. Boyle sprinkles in quotations from every possible tradition. Poets Mary Oliver and Denise Levertov share space with Sufi poets and Catholic icons.

The message of the book is simple, and it’s the only message worth delivering anyway: the vastness of God's love for us. In the end, this is the one thing that can overcome the hopelessness and despair of life in the projects—or in the suburbs. For a Catholic like myself, who enjoys the comforts and safety of middle-class American life, Boyle’s message is completely convincing. (less)

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Nov 10, 2011 Jill Polsby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jill by: My book club's choice

Truly heart rending read. This is a local Los Angeles priest who has adopted the gangs and who is working to change the scenery, the background of the predictability. You find yourself reading along, frustrated with Father G's words and in the next paragraph you find yourself tearing up fom a psychological statement, a biblical statement, a factual, a moral.....

Everyone should read this, everyone should have the same tour of the incredible "workshop" (bakery, restaurant, school, employment place...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Brendan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a profound work. It is a testimonial work about violence, gangs, and remediation in a broken community. And yet it returns the reader to fundamental questions of the existence of God, God's nature, and our response to inhumanity in our world. It does this by way of a narrative cataloging the events that have followed the creation of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. The author, a Jesuit who has spent the last three decades working with the former gang members and their families in some...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Alice rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this memoir to be inspirational, although scattered in the writing. I find similarities in how Fr. Greg (G-dog) relates to the homies he works with and how I relate to my students. He deals with much deeper problems and infinitely more tragedy, but I admire his use of humor mixed with compassion when dealing with these troubled kids. I think the most useful part of his writing was his answer to how much success he has. He says that God has not called him to be successful, just to love th...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Lori rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Inspiring. Gregory Boyle truly emulates the virtue of charity, and message of Jesus Christ. The book had me in tears and other times in laughter. I loved it!

From Publisher's 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,...more

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Jun 19, 2011 Di Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this book up as it is the freshman summer read for the university I'll be attending in the fall. While several books have gotten to the very core of me of recent, this book has by far affected me on a deeper level than the other books. Father Boyle is the heart of what Jesus asks us to do for our brother and sisters – the good and 'the bad.' The story is thought provoking, inspirational and helped restore my cynical attitude towards our current world climate. On a cynical level it is ea...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Judith rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing, inspirational, funny, sad, well-written book. Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest who founded Homeboy Industries to assist the most violent gang-ridden section of Los Angeles. The style of the book is very casual, as if you are sitting at a party with an expert story teller, who never runs out of real life anecdotes. He is a preacher, but never seems to be preaching. In fact, it is the best spiritual book I have read in years and made me wish I was still a believer.

The author i...more

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Feb 19, 2011 Hunso rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read Tattoos on the Heart because the title caught my eye. Regina King, the star of Southland, was interviewed in O Magazine in the March issue, and was asked what was the best book she had read recently. She named this one.So I looked it up on Amazon and loaded it on my kindle. I was on vacation at the time and I read it in less than 2 days. I once read somewhere that compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use. Fr. G is what we are all called to be, humble, caring, loving, and able to...more

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Dec 16, 2010 Martha added it

I met Fr. Greg Boyle several years ago, and later began working as the psychotherapist in residence assisting people from immigrant communities to gang communities. Fr. G's life was previously written by another author, Celeste Fremon, who wrote about Fr. G but after many years, and after telling the many stories about his Homeboys and Homegirls at conferences and at universities, today, December 15, 2010, he spoke on the Dr. Phil show. Fr. Greg is a humble, holy, courageous and wonderfully comp...more

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Nov 18, 2010 Robin rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book tells the story on Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries in LA, and those of the "homies" that he serves. The organization helps gang members in LA find work, get their tattoos removed, and have a fresh start. I was inspired by how beautifully Fr. Boyle lives out his Christian faith. I think a lot of people could learn from his example of truly serving the poor and expressing love rather than judgment. However, as someone who is not a Christian some of his messages didn't...more

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Aug 22, 2010 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

In May, I had the opportunity to hear Father Boyle speak – and I’m glad I did, as he’s an amazing speaker with a unique voice and style. The book shares his speaking style, and, while I think I would have enjoyed the book even if I had not heard him speak, being able to hear his voice while reading did make it easier to appreciate the book from the start. (On a side note, even if you don’t want to read the book, if you ever have the chance to hear him speak: GO). This book is a memoir of Father...more

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Jul 09, 2010 Jennifer Defoy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-reads, condor-books

The stories in this book were so touching. There were times I was crying and times I was laughing. Hope and compassion are really great words to use when talking about this book.

There were so many stories, and while they were all touching they were presented in a way that seemed a bit jumpy to me. If the stories had flowed better I would have been much happier with this one. But it was still pretty good as it is.

The language took a bit for me to get used to. Greg Boyle's language shocked me th...more

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Jun 11, 2010 Herbie added it

I should mention, first, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't live in Los Angeles or follow closely the arena of gang prevention, that Father Greg Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries, the most well-known gang prevention program in the gang capital of the US, Los Angeles. The organization's slogan is "Nothing stops a bullet like a job," and Father Boyle (or "G" as he is known) has made it his vocation to hire convicted felons straight out of jail and employ them in various Homeboy enterpr...more
I should mention, first, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't live in Los Angeles or follow closely the arena of gang prevention, that Father Greg Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries, the most well-known gang prevention program in the gang capital of the US, Los Angeles. The organization's slogan is "Nothing stops a bullet like a job," and Father Boyle (or "G" as he is known) has made it his vocation to hire convicted felons straight out of jail and employ them in various Homeboy enterprises. They run a bakery, a screen-printing factory, they wash cars, they sell merchandise.

Tattoos on the Heart compiles the many extraordinary stories Father Boyle tells in casual sermon format, the stories that both sprinkle and structure his public speaking. He recently received an honorary degree at Occidental College's graduation, and his central message when he spoke was that we must create kinship. He said, "We are sent to create a community of kinship such that God might recognize it." That actually followed a joke that went like:

The homies, they teach me things. For example, they're teaching me how to text. I was driving a homie home, and he got a text on his phone. "What does it say?" I asked him. He said, its Louie. He says they've got him locked up in County holding facilities. He says they're charging him with being the ugliest vato in the universe. He says, "You need to come down here and show them they've got the wrong guy!"

Father Greg let everybody at the Oxy commencement laugh. Then he said that right after this went down he appreciated that these two guys used to be members of rival gangs. They used to shoot bullets at each other. Now they shoot texts at each other. He ended by repeating what he had opened with. We are sent to create a community of kinship, such that God might recognize it.

I don't know who God is, but this statement really stayed with me. It put all the infighting and disagreements in the bike advocacy community in LA in perspective. If rival gangs can get together and bake bread and hold down jobs, and even rib each other via text, surely LA's bike activists can put any hurts behind and aim for a higher purpose.

This is one of the only books I read during my first year of graduate school. I found time to read it because it forced me to - I couldn't put it down. Like an episode of This American Life, the book wanders all over the globe, from wacky circumstances to the improbable and seemingly miraculous. Fr. Boyle connects it all, somehow, makes it all attest to the immense possibility in this world, to our essential connectedness, our ineffable grace, our clumsy humanity... to deeper lessons than I can pretend to regurgitate in this review. I will need to revisit this book many times.

All of us, especially those of us who are trying to fire up social movements or make change, need spiritual leaders. I trust Father Boyle (a fact all the more amazing because of my distrust of religious institutions, especially patriarchal, homophobic ones). I trust him because of his overflowing armful of stories and the way his narration focuses on the actions of all the people around him, in all their shapes and sizes and backgrounds and quirks and graces and flaws. We must understand this kind of principled humility if we are to do any worthwhile work in this world.

Addendum: Homeboy has been hit hard by the recession. They really need your money, I mean, they really need it or they can't hire any more homies! They just laid off almost all of their staff, leaving only their core outlets, like the bakery and the printshop. Learn more about them and donate here.(less)

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Apr 27, 2011 Tim Eby-mckenzie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Quite possibly the most powerful book I have read to date. I spent late night reflection time reading this book over a period of months, just soaking it in. I found myself unable to resist tears quite often, so moved by the compassion and wisdom reflected in the stories "G-dog" relates. The grace communicated so expansively through Father Greg's exposition of the "Narrow Gate" completely changed my perspective on Matthew's gospel. Before, I just hoped I might be able to squeeze in by the skin of...more

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Jun 10, 2011 Rose rated it 4 of 5 stars

At the Farmer's Market they have a Homeboy Bakery stand. They have yummy rosemary rolls. This is how I found this book. Gregory Boyle, the author of this book, is a priest who has been working to help improve the lives of many LA residents, particularly those who are in gangs, & founder of Homeboy Industries. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the work this man does, & has been doing, for the past 20 years. In a world where most people dismiss those in need with a shrug & a "Why give...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Amy Young rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book makes me want to be a better person. Period.

Any book has that effect gets five stars. My sister brought it from America and told me she laughed out loud as she read it and every morning her husband wanted to know the funny things she'd been reading. Anyone who can take working with gang members and ex-cons and some of the most tragic situations and find The Light and the light side is someone I want to follow. Father Greg consistently challenges the deeply rooted belief that some live...more

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Jul 12, 2010 Theresa rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: All adults & mature teens

Shelves: adult, christian, nonfiction, review-copy, to-read-again

When Father Gregory Boyle made the decision he wanted to work with the poor, the Church sent him to the poorest parish in Los Angeles. The area was home to 8 active gangs - 7 Latino and one African American. Instead of shunning these gang members, Father Boyle gives these members what they need - love, attention and a purpose.

Father Boyle writes about his journey as well as the journey of those he helped (or tried to). He writes with a love and compassion that only one that is passionate about h...more

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“Close both eyes see with the other one. Then we are no longer saddled by the burden of our persistent judgments our ceaseless withholding our constant exclusion. Our sphere has widened and we find ourselves quite unexpectedly in a new expansive location in a place of endless acceptance and infinite love.” — 39 people liked it

“Kindness is the only strength there is.” — 17 people liked it

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title link	preview: Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
avg rating	preview: Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion Goodreads rating: 4.35 (2045 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7090193-tattoos-on-the-heart?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347834451l/7090193.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7090193-tattoos-on-the-heart?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle[/url]

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

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