I recommend  Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle (New York: Simon & Schuster [Free Press], 2010). It's the story of a ministry with street gangs in LA. It is very well-written and moving. Here's a quote: "Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it."

One day a former parishioner returns to visit the church on a weekday:

"Then he takes in…