So we go from "blessed rather" to venerate and then you modify the word venerate to mean slightly less than what it really means.
Your argument requires that we redefine the word "blessed" and the word "rather" and the phrase "those who hear the word of God and keep it". As Rush says, words mean things.
We don’t know what form the veneration of Mary took when the woman in the crowd addressed her. We know that veneration of living saints is often embarassing to them. Now, with Mary and an army of saints in heaven, we venerate them in the way that comes most natural to us. It is strange that the latter-day Protestants don’t do so at all: it is a serious defect in your prayer life, especially when you take this as a pretext of attacking the Church of God.
While dictionaries mix up veneration and worship, we don’t do so, precisely because words mean things. One worships God; one venerates a saint or a holy object. When St. Peter’s clothes were collected as relics, it was an acceptable practice; but when pagans attempt to worship the apostles, the apostles stop them.
The fundamental form of worship is the sacrifice of the Mass. We do not offer masses to Mary, but we invoke her holy name several times during the mass: asking for her prayers as well as the prayers of all the saints and living brothers and sisters in Christ during the confession Rite, when the Creed is spoken, and when the communion of saints is invoked in the Eucharistic prayer. Also, some priests like to say three Hail Marys in the end.