| We venerate the name of Mary because it belongs to her who is the Mother of God, the holiest of creatures, the Queen of heaven and earth, the Mother of Mercy. The object of the feast is the Holy Virgin bearing the name of Mirjam (Mary); the feast commemorates all the privileges given to Mary by God and all the graces we have received through her intercession and mediation. It was instituted in 1513 at Cuenca in Spain, and assigned with proper Office to 15 Sept., the octave day of Mary's Nativity.
To understand what we should think of Mary and how much we should love her, consider God's esteem of her and the proofs of His love that He gave her. "Countless in number are My spouses, " says the Holy Spirit, "but only one have I adorned with all perfections" (Song 6:7-8). The spouse who is loved in this extraordinary way by God must, after Him, have complete rule of our hearts and sentiments. God's love for her led Him to grant her every privilege that would set her apart. So our love for Mary ought to set her apart from all else that we love after God. God so loved her that He gave her the first place, after Himself, in heaven and on earth. Thus in heaven and on earth there is, after God, no being more worthy of our veneration and love. That is why all holy men have given her first place in their hearts, after Jesus. The holy Fathers tell us that we but pretend to love the Son if we do not love the Mother too, for the two loves are inseparable. The Fathers make love of Mary one of the surest signs of predestination and one of the most precious gifts of grace. The love Mary herself has for us tells us what our love for her ought to be in return. 
Love for Mary Most Holy She observes our needs, suffers our afflictions, forestalls our desires, puts up with our faults, and forgets our ingratitude. How eager, then, we should be in showing a return of love! Let us be careful to profit by the opportunities we have of pleasing her. Nothing seems too humble when her service is at stake, for indeed nothing is unimportant when it comes to serving the Mother of God, the Queen of the world. Let us be prompt to do anything that pertains to her cult, anything that can contribute to making her loved and honored. Let us carefully offer her each day the tribute of our praise and the homage of our hearts, and find our glory in being one of her professed servants. We should frequently raise our minds and hearts, and find our glory in being one of her professed servants. We should frequently raise our minds and hearts to her throne, that we may admire her greatness and perfections and ask her protection. In order to honor and imitate her virtues, let us give alms and do the other works of love, let us fast and practice other forms of self- denial.
We should receive the sacraments on her feast days so as to celebrate them in a holier way, and, if we can, offer Mass at times in gratitude for the blessings with which God has enriched her. Let us often visit shrines set up in her honor, and venerate her images and such persons and places as are specially dedicated to her. We should eagerly assist, as far as we can, at public manifestations of devotion to her and at sermons dealing with her virtues, her prerogatives, and the devotion Christian hearts should have toward her. These are the ways in which a child of Mary tries to give witness to his own love for her and to win her love ever more fully in return.
Mary, powerful protector and loving mother of men, you see in my heart a sincere determination to be faithful to these holy practices. I thank the Lord for the sentiments of love for you that He inspires in me. That He gives them to me is a sure proof of His love for me. I shall vie in fidelity to you with all those servants and children of yours whom I see to be more fervent in such practices. Would that I might rival the angels them-selves! But such happiness is reserved to the Blessed in heaven.
Reflection: If we, like the Christians of Europe in the 17th century, desire to appease by our prayers the divine anger which our sins have justly provoked, we must join the tears of sincere compunction to a perfect conversion of our habits. The first grace we should beg of God is that He will dispose us to maintain at all times a spirit of worthy penance. And to the invocation of Jesus it is a pious and wholesome practice to join our recourse to the Blessed Virgin, that, through Her intercession, we may more readily obtain the effects of our petitions. For this reason devout souls, with great affection and confidence, honor the Holy Hearts and invoke the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
Blessed be the Holy Name of Mary!
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