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in Staff Picks, St. Dominic Book Club

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

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"Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion," by Gregory Boyle was recommended by Rich Harter, now Director of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, as a St. Dominic Book Club selection years ago. It remains one of my favorite books.

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, since 1988. In "Tattoos on the Heart", he describes his experience working in the ghetto through a series of moving parables inspired by faith.

Shared with humor and generosity of heart, he offers a window into how the joy in loving others and in being loved unconditionally is possible. We learn different lessons from each character: how to feel worthy of God's love, the importance of being present to others and in being known, and that patience with others, has it rewards.

It's a book about redemption, compassion, and the power of unconditional love. Highly recommended for those who are looking to go deeper into the Works of Mercy.

Posted by Meg Picciolo
Tags: compassion, outreach, works of mercy, gregory boyle, homeboy industries
in Staff Picks, St. Dominic Book Club

The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming

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The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming," by Henri Nouwen was a Book Club selection that made an impact on many in our group. Each of the story's characters were revealed in such a way that you come to identify with each of them individually; the father, the older son, and the returning son. The book opened up this parable for me in ways never before explored.

"A chance encounter with a reproduction of Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son catapulted Henri Nouwen on a long spiritual adventure. Here he shares the deeply personal and resonant meditation that led him to discover the place within where God has chosen to dwell.

In seizing the inspiration that came to him through Rembrandt's depiction of the powerful Gospel story, Henri Nouwen probes the several movements of the parable: the younger son's return, the father's restoration of sonship, the elder son's vengefulness, and the father's compassion. In his reflection on Rembrandt in light of his own life journey, the author evokes a powerful drama of the parable in a rich, captivating way that is sure to reverberate in the hearts of readers. The themes of homecoming, affirmation, and reconciliation will be newly discovered by all who have known loneliness, dejection, jealousy, or anger. The challenge to love as the father and be loved as the son will be seen as the ultimate revelation of the parable known to Christians throughout time, and here represented with a vigor and power fresh for our times.

"The Return of the Prodigal Son is a beautiful book, as beautiful in the simple clarity of its wisdom as in the terrible beauty of the transformation to which it calls us." --New Oxford Review

Posted by Meg Picciolo
Tags: book club, henri nouwen, parable, prodigal son