Another important element of the secret to the success of Homeboy Industries is to realize that it is not about helping the suffering or doing for those in need. Such attitudes just reinforce the perception that some people are more worthy or lovable then others. This plays into the despair and self-loathing that leads to gang membership. Each person is loved by God just as he or she is. God created us, and God doesn’t create garbage. There is always room to grow into a more perfect image of God, whether you are a gang member or the Pope, but we must never forget the absolute bottom line that we are worthy. We are loved by God. When gang members realize this fundamental truth the change in them is profound. When they believed that they were garbage, they acted like garbage. When they realize that they are loved and worthy, then they act like people who are loved and loving, they act in ways that reflect their great worth.
Fr. Boyle doesn’t see Homeboy Industries as a program to help gang members break the cycle of despair and self-destruction in which they are caught. He sees it as a community in which everyone helps everyone else to discover their kinship with one another and their immense value and worthiness. The staff and volunteers learn as much from the gang members, as do the gang members. It is a community model of sharing and doing for one another, rather than a model of the privileged doing for others who are less well of then them.
So, what does this have to do with a personal relationship with God?
Remember earlier when I wrote about community as a context for our relationship with God? This is important because any meaningful and personal relationship with God must occur in a “human manner”; that is, through our senses, since that is the way we experience the world, and in a manner that we can interpret in some meaningful way. I tried not to give the impression that mere membership in some social organization provided a meaningful and personal relationship with God. It doesn’t. However, community is powerful medium for any relationship. It gives us an analogy for understanding any relationship. It is also the fundamental Christian understanding of the divine, since Trinity reflects a divine community of persons.
Homeboy Industries speaks to the power of community. It reveals that we can experience something of a personal relationship with God in the experience of our relationships with one another. We encounter the divine in a human way. That certainly includes the experience of community.
The journey we have gone on with this long and winding Along the Way reflection began with the vision statement from the Diocesan Pastoral Plan that as a Christian community we seek to help young people and families experience a personal relationship with Jesus. This raises a fundamental question. Why would anyone want a personal relationship with God?
Fr. Boyle shares many stories about the young people with whom he ministers. He doesn’t hide their pain and suffering. It is a key factor in joining the gangs. However, once the gang members can discover their kinship with others and their great value as human beings worthy of God’s love in the context of community a change overtakes them. Most of the stories Fr. Boyle tells about Homeboy Industries and the young people who work there make you laugh. There is a palpable joy in these young people who were caught not long ago in the trap of despair.
How do you know any relationship is good? What attracts you to any relationship with another? It is the joy that you experience in the relationship. You normally don’t seek out relationships with others to be depressed but to experience joy. There may be ups and downs in any relationship but your motivation for the relationship is the joy you find in that relationship. A marriage can last many decades when the couple is able to find joy in the relationship. I’m not speaking of constant blissed out joy, though there is room for emotional highs in a good relationship. What I am speaking of is the joy that comes from a friendship that is valued, from shared experiences, from the ability to share a laugh and find humor in difficult circumstances.
A few years ago, Fr. James Martin, another Jesuit of note, wrote a book “Between Heaven and Mirth”, in which he suggested that many Christians take their Faith much too seriously. One gets the impression from many images of the saints that a good Christian suffers from heartburn much of the time. That is the only way to account for the scowling expression on their face. Yet, if you study the lives of the saints, it is common to discover that they were joyful and often had a wonderful sense of humor. My favorite story is of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr. As he was being martyred, cooked alive on a grill, he told the executioner, “You can flip me over, I’m done on this side!” St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, mystic and religious founder, wrote that she would prefer to face a legion of demons than one sister who was unable to smile.