I recently began reading Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, by Greg Boyle, S.J., founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. Homeboy Industries is the largest and most well known gang rehabiliation enterprise in the country. It’s only about a two-hour drive from the school where I work. Groups of students regularly visit Homeboy and its various divisions. 

Father Boyle’s book filled with stories of the Gospel in action, as well as vivid insights into the challenges and blessings of, as the subtitle indicates, “boundless compassion.”

The book contains a number of memorable passages, and I want to share one here: “There is no force in the world better able to alter anything from its course than love.”

 

Matt Emerson's essays have appeared in a number of publications, including America, Commonweal, and the Wall Street Journal. The Catholic Press Association named his September 2012 essay "Help Their Unbelief," published in America, as the "best essay" in the category of national general interest magazine for 2012. He is the author of the book Why Faith? A Journey of Discovery (Paulist Press 2016).Articles:Fruitful Searching (Jan. 5-12, 2015)Preambles for Faith (May 13, 2013)Help Their Unbelief (Sept. 10, 2012)Posts at The Ignatian Educator