A Fierce and Tender Love: 7 Meditations on Mary, Mother of God

In A Fierce and Tender Love, bestselling author, speaker, and theologian Timothy P. O'Malley invites us to contemplate Mary, as a model of tenderness, hope, and renewal, and as the Church's first and preeminent disciple. As O'Malley writes, "Mary's vocation is also to be ours. Like her, we are called to find our meaning and our identity most completely in the tender mercy of God revealed in the face of the Son."

Through personal stories, spiritual reflections, and deep theological insights, O'Malley shows us how Mary, as the Mother of God, Mother of the Church, and Queen of All Saints, guides us to Christ, teaching us how to live as true disciples. Along the way, we learn what it means to belong to the Church, to journey together through history as a pilgrim people, and to play our part in the "revolution of tenderness" that Pope Francis speaks of--a movement rooted in the mystery of God becoming human in a virgin named Mary. O'Malley helps us to see that in this time of renewal and hope, Mary offers us the key to unlocking both.

The book offers seven thoughtful meditations on Mary's life, including:

• The Immaculate Conception as a model of true freedom
• The Annunciation as the wisdom to trust God
• The Visitation as a source of enduring hope
• The Incarnation as the revolution of tenderness that changes everything
• The Seven Sorrows of Mary, showing us how she walks with us in suffering
• Mary's motherhood of the Church, calling us to deeper discipleship
• The Assumption as a glimpse of our own future victory in Christ

These meditations help us to walk with Mary, aligning our lives with hers and discovering renewed hope in Christ and in his Church. Through O'Malley's guidance, readers will see how Mary's life offers a sure path for navigating times of uncertainty, suffering, and our world's profound need for spiritual renewal.

Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!

This book is part of the Engaging Catholicism series from the McGrath Institute for Church Life.

Timothy P. O'Malley is a Catholic theologian, author, and professor. He serves as the associate director for research at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. He regularly teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in sacramental theology, marriage and family, catechesis, and spirituality.

O'Malley earned his bachelor's degree in theology and philosophy and his master's degree in theology with a concentration in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame. He earned a doctorate in theology and education from Boston College, where he wrote on liturgical formation in the writings of Augustine of Hippo.

O'Malley is the author of many books, including three award-winning books published by Ave Maria Press: Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating, and Marriage in a Hookup World; Real Presence: What Does It Mean and Why Does It Matter?; and Becoming Eucharistic People: The Hope and Promise of Parish Life. His most recent book, Behold, Believe, Become: Meeting the Hidden Christ in Things We See, Say, and Do at Mass, has also been well received. He has written for scholarly journals, the McGrath Institute for Church Life's Church Life Journal, and popular magazines throughout the United States.

O'Malley is the lead investigator on two grants from the Lilly Foundation: one related to preaching and the other to children and worship. These grants pertain to his interest in cultivating a contemplative and sacramental imagination in an age dominated by technology, spectacle, and polarization.

He lives with his family in the South Bend, Indiana, area.

The McGrath Institute for Church Life was founded as the Center for Pastoral and Social Ministry by the late Notre Dame president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, in 1976. The McGrath Institute partners with Catholic dioceses, parishes, and schools to provide theological education and formation to address pressing pastoral problems. The Institute connects the Catholic intellectual tradition to the pastoral life of the Church in forming faithful Catholic leaders for service to the Church and the world. The McGrath Institute strives to be the preeminent source of creative Catholic content and programming for the new evangelization in the United States.