***Jesus was saying that Mary obtained merit from being the handmaid, not for merely being a blood relation of His.***
My friend, I must disagree.
In light of Christ's teachings it is clear that he is redirecting the woman away from an unhealthy devotion to a fellow human being and to devotion to that which he continually directs people - doing the will of God.
We see the same thing in the following passage...
"While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
Indeed. Mary is worshiped as Theotokos, one who gave us the incarnate Lord. As the ark of the incarnation, she is the first Church. But Christ establishes His Church as a body of His followers. This is the meaning of this verse: Jesus expands his earthly family. He did not abandon His Mother in this verse or anytime else. In fact, we are commanded to hold Mary as our mother by Christ on the Cross.