Last Wednesday night, I got to hear Father Gregory Boyle speak.
If you don’t know who he is, he is the priest who runs Homeboy Industries - check out his book, Tattoos on the Heart or type his name into the search bar of any podcast player. I promise you won’t regret it.
I missed the opportunity to see him in person twice this year, but I suppose everything happens when it’s supposed to.
He filled the room with so much heart and wisdom, sharing stories from the streets of LA, and other bits of wisdom.
“Tenderness is the highest form of spiritual maturity,” he emphasized.
He’s right. Because if the greatest law is loving God and neighbor, and if the greatest love is sacrifice— it takes real tenderness to do that.
Tenderness is sitting with the events of this week and the improbability of anything getting better soon, but not growing cynical or jaded.
Tenderness is moving towards the people who are hurting instead of building a wall between their pain and your security.
Tenderness isn’t weakness. It’s knowing that instruments of love- maybe a pint of donated blood, maybe a march for our lives, maybe a brave conversation- are much stronger than instruments of hate.
