If you grew up Catholic, your love for the Virgin Mary probably started in early childhood. You might've had an image of her somewhere near your bed when you were small. Maybe you remember that image, even if you're not living with your parents or it got lost when your family moved to another house at some point.

But do you know why you love the Virgin Mary? Do you ever feel like you ought to love her more? A good place to start is closer to home, with your own mother. Most of the time, why does a child love their mother? Why do we still love her as adults? Because she loved us first.

A mother's love comes before her child's, both in time and in depth, and it is far more unconditional. St. John puts it well in his first letter: We love because He first loved us. Those words shed light on Mary's love for each of us. She loves us within God's own love. Put another way: the infinite love God has for Mary — wholly singular and unique — is the very love she pours out on us.

But she is not merely a conduit, some kind of spiritual relay station passing God's love along the line. When Mary loves each of her children, she brings her own love, and her love is unlike anything else that has ever existed or ever will. Those words of Jesus from the Cross (Woman, here is your son) set out a mission she's carried out across the centuries for every Christian, without exception.

This raises a second question: what is Mary's love for us actually like? We've touched on part of the answer already: it is a mother's love. Mary's love, like that of many other mothers, is generous and self-giving, capable of incredible sacrifice. It is merciful in a way that absorbs coldness and indifference without holding them against you. It is patient. It is selfless, setting aside its own interests for the good of the child. 

...We could go on. But thinking about all this brings us to another question: how do we love Mary in return?

Christians have been finding answers to that question for two thousand years, in ways that are both deeply human and supernatural. One of the oldest prayers we have dates to around AD 250: "We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin." Then there is the Hail Mary, repeated millions upon millions of times, in every conceivable circumstance, across centuries of history and across the personal lives of individual Christians.

Among all these expressions of love, the Holy Rosary holds a special place. Rooted in the early Middle Ages, it has spread throughout the world and been commended by pope after pope. Recently, at the Marian shrine of Pompeii, Pope Leo XIV recalled that "generations of believers have been shaped and sustained by this prayer, which is simple and popular, yet at the same time capable of reaching mystical heights and serving as a treasure-trove of the most essential Christian theology. For what could be more essential than the mysteries of Christ, than His holy Name, spoken with the tenderness of the Virgin Mary?"

Another expression of love for our Lady is the Angelus, prayed at midday, joining Mary in recalling her vocation as Mother of God and our mother. During Eastertide it gives way to the Regina Caeli.

There are other customs that have helped Christians across the centuries to express and deepen their love for Mary. Many Christian homes put an image of her in a prominent place as a quiet reminder that she is watching over us. When our eyes fall on it, we naturally think of talking to her. This is where ejaculatory prayers (short, spontaneous prayers sent heavenward like arrows) come in. There are hundreds of them, composed by ordinary faithful in honour of Mary.

Another tradition with deep roots is making pilgrimages to Marian shrines. Some are vast popular gatherings at places where our Lady has appeared or where a beloved image of her is venerated. Others are far more intimate, like a small group making their way to a simple wayside chapel. All of them carry the same underlying sense: that our life is a journey, and we are heading home, to heaven, where Mary and her Son are waiting.

Across the world, Marian devotion also finds a particular focus in the month of Mary. In most parts of the world, that month is May. In some countries, it runs from November 8 to December 8, closing with the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It's a time to intensify your love for the Virgin Mary, however you express it.

Finally, the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a small piece of brown cloth worn around the neck, is a devotion that came from our Lady herself. When our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock in 1251, she gave him the scapular with a promise of protection, salvation, and deliverance from hell for all who wore it devoutly throughout their lives.

We'll close with some advice from St. Josemaría, who loved our Lady deeply during his life on earth and now contemplates her in heaven: