Table of Contents
Guide
EVERYONE EVERYTHING
EVERYONE EVERYTHING
GREGORY BOYLE
New York Times
Bestselling Author of
Tattoos on the Heart
ART BY FABIAN DEBORA
Executive Director Homeboy Art Academy
www.loyolapress.com
A Note to the Reader:
The anecdotes in this book have been drawn from
Gregory Boyles previously published works from Simon & Schuster, including
Tattoos on the Heart, Barking at the Choir,
and
The Whole Language.
For more
details, please see the Acknowledgments and Sources on p. 109.
Text copyright 2022 by Gregory Boyle
Art copyright 2022 by Fabian Debora
All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from
Revised Standard Version of the Bible
, 1946,
1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States
of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
eBook ISBN: 978-0-8294-5025-5
Print ISBN: 978-0-8294-5024-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022933949
To purchase this book in bulk quantities, contact Customer Service at
800-621-1008 for information and discounts.
EBOOK 5
Dedication
For Homeboys and Homegirls everywhere
Dear Reader,
Sometime ago, I saw a bumper sticker that read
Forgive everyone everything.
That
can be a pretty freeing idea if we can actually live it.
Forgiveness is about restoration of life; its about becoming whole again, about
repairing broken relationships. Its about resilience. And resilience is about bouncing
back and allowing yourself to be restored so that things in life dont topple you. We all
know what its like to have our hearts hardened by resentment.
But if we can forgive
everyone everything, then we can be freed from anger, hatred, and resentment.
Psychologists might say that resilience is about perception. Being resilient is about
how you choose to see. Long after experiencing a traumatizing event, you can continue
to see that event as traumatizing, and it will be traumatizing. Or you could see that
event as an opportunity for growth and learning.
Theres no denying how difficult things can be. But the way out to the place of resilience,
the place of restoration, the place of not allowing your heart to be hardened by
resentment, relies on one thing:
forgive everyone everything.
Fr. Greg
FORGIVE EVERYONE
EVERYTHING
On a Saturday in 1996 I am set to baptize George at Camp Munz. He delays doing this with
the other priests because he only wants me to do it. He also wants to schedule the event
to follow his successful passing of the GED exam. He sees it as something of a twofer
celebration. I actually know seventeen-year-old George and his nineteen-year-old brother,
Cisco. Both are gang members from a barrio in the projects, but I have only really come to
know George over his nine-month stint in this camp. I have watched him move gradually
from his hardened posturing to being a man in possession of himself and his gifts....
The Friday night before Georges baptism, Cisco is walking home before midnight when
the quiet is shattered, as it so often is in his neighborhood, by gunshots. Some rivals
creep up and open fire, and Cisco falls in the middle of St. Louis Street, half a block from
his apartment. He is killed instantly. His girlfriend, Annel, nearly eight months pregnant
with their first child, runs outside. She cradles Cisco in her arms and lap, rocking him as
if to sleep, and her screams syncopate with every motion forward.
I dont sleep much that night. It occurs to me to cancel my presence at the Mass the
next morning at Camp Munz to be with Ciscos grieving family. But then I remember
George and his baptism. When I arrive before Mass, with all the empty chairs in place
in the mess hall, there is George standing by himself, holding his newly acquired GED
certificate. He heads toward me, waving his GED and beaming. We hug each other. He
is in a borrowed, ironed, crisp white shirt and a thin black tie. His pants are the regular,
camp-issue camouflage, green and brown. I am
desvelado,
completely wiped out, yet
trying to keep my excitement at pace with Georges.
RESILIENCE
[P]ray for one another,
so that you may be healed.
James 5:16
At the beginning of Mass, with the mess hall now packed, I ask him, What is your name?
George Martinez, he says, with an overflow of confidence.
And, George, what do you ask of Gods church?
Baptism, he says, with a steady, barely contained smile.
It is the most difficult baptism of my life. For as I pour water over Georges head: Father...
Son... Spirit, I know I will walk George outside alone after and tell him what happened.
As I do, and I put my arm around him, I whisper gently as we walk out onto the baseball
field, George, your brother Cisco was killed last night.
I can feel all the air leave his body as he heaves a sigh that finds itself a sob in an instant.
We land on a bench. His face seeks refuge in his open palms, and he sobs quietly. Most
notable is what isnt present in his rocking and gentle wailing. Ive been in this place
before many times. There is always flailing and rage and promises to avenge things. There
is none of this in George. It is as if the commitment he has just made in water, oil, and
flame has taken hold and his grief is pure and true and more resembles the heartbreak
of God. George seems to offer proof of the efficacy of this thing we call sacrament, and
