Cherished Belonging

The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times

By: Gregory Boyle

Narrated by: Gregory Boyle

At a time when society is more fractured than ever before, beloved Jesuit priest Gregory Boyle invites us to see the world through a new lens of connection and build the loving community that we long to live in—a perfect message for fans of Anne Lamott, Mary Oliver, and Richard Rohr.

Over the past thirty years, Gregory Boyle has transformed thousands of lives through his work as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world. The program runs on two unwavering principles: (1) Everyone is unshakably good (no exceptions) and (2) we belong to each other (no exceptions).

Boyle believes that these two ideas allow all of us to cultivate a new way of seeing. Every community wants to be a safe place, where people are seen, and then are cherished. By remembering that we belong to each other, we find our way out of chaos and its dispiriting tribalism. Pooka, a former gang member who now oversees the program’s housing division, puts it plainly: “Here, love is our lens. It’s how we see things.”

In Cherished Belonging, Boyle calls back to Christianity’s origins as a subversive spiritual movement of equality, emancipation, and peace. Early Christianity was a way of life—not a set of beliefs. Boyle’s vision of community isn’t just a space for an individual to heal, but for people to join together and heal each other in a new collective living, a world dedicated to kindness as a constant and radical act of defiance. “The answer to every question is, indeed, compassion,” Boyle exhorts. He calls us to cherish and nurture the connections that are all around us and live with radical kindness.

©2024 Gregory Boyle (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

My heart turned each page

this book was a textured and lavish experience of black culture and took me directly to my family and community in South Central, Los Angeles in the 40s. I absolutely highly recommend reading this book and understanding all of the characters and their distinction. This book is beautifully written, an amazing work of artistry and love.

Love in Action

How great it is that caring people would start a mission with such a noble cause of helping the helpless., and teaching the act of giving and creating a space of belonging.

A deep truth shared in human life and knowledge

It is a great vision told in in the framework and story of love lived in our real world.

Just what I needed

Each book Gregory Boyle writes gets better and better. I love them all, and I was so happy when I learned this book was coming out. So I pre-ordered a hard copy of it, and felt like it was truly God-sent when I opened an Amazon box to find it on election night. Drawing from his three decades of experience with Homeboy Industries, Boyle presents a compelling vision of community and healing, rooted in the belief that every person is unshakably good and we all belong to each other. Through colorful anecdotes and wisdom from former gang members, Boyle challenges readers to see the world through a lens of love and practice radical kindness as a defiance against societal divisions. His intimate and vulnerable voice adds depth to the narrative, creating a sense of personal connection with the reader. "Cherished Belonging" is not just a book but a call to action, inspiring readers to nurture connections and see the inherent goodness in all people, offering a compassionate way forward in our current times. I can’t recommend it enough! Just what I needed. I also ordered it here on Audible, so I can listen to Father Greg read it. Truly, it’s even more powerful to listen to him read his books. I will continue to re-read and re-listen to “Cherished Belonging” as a guide to navigating these times we are living through.

Our oneness

I liked the love! All the love! All the stories! And remembering again to forgive everyone, everything!

We all belong to each other.

A book about seeing how people aren’t evil but people do evil things. We all hurt and we all fall and we all can change.

Beautiful words to guide us through difficult days.

I loved listening to this beautiful book being read by Father Boyle himself. I was listening during the season of advent and I now plan to make it part of my spiritual practice each year.

One of the most beautiful books I’ve read.

What a man what a place. Hope, longing, awe and wonder is what I’m left with. Thank you for so much beauty.

Life changing

I find myself saying again and again “Can God be this good? Can this be real?”. My heart sings to imagine a God like this.

Another masterpiece of inspired words to love by.

I've listened to Fr. Greg Boyle's books at least three times each. Each book and every time, his words transform my heart in a new way. I hear something different and moving and profound. This book does the same and continues to make the case for finding ourselves in loving by practicing cherished belonging. I find myself both weeping and laughing at the boundless love growing at Homeboy Industries and I long for this to spill out and nurture my world, the world, OUR world. Yes, we all do belong to one another. Yes, indeed.