“Just wow. How can that be?”
Because Christ is the Head of the Body of Christ. There is no higher part. Sorry, but Mary doesn’t have any role in the Body of Christ other than to be a part of it like all the rest of us Christians.
Just wow. How can you not understand this?
A better question would be why do you so badly want Mary to be given this role? What is wrong with Christ being the head that you need to make Mary the head of the head? What is it about Mary that has you in such enthrallment that she must be the center of attention in so many matters that have nothing to do with her?
Isn’t it enough that she gave birth to Jesus’ human body? It was certainly enough for her and for God to say she was blessed among women for having that role. But it’s over now. Jesus grew up to be a man and He left His mother, He even died on the cross and was resurrected into a new body and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. He has all the power and the glory of the Father and he is our intessessor and our savior. Why, when we have all that in Christ, is there this need in you to put Mary somewhere in that equation?
And Mary is not higher than the head of the Church, and no one said she was. (Well maybe some weird heretics somewhere, but formal Cathlolic teaching does not say Mary is higher than Jesus.
Consequently, my saying that she is the Mother of the Body of Christ is NOT saying that she is 'higher' that Jesus. That is YOUR construction. That is not what the Church teaches.
Some cannot imagine that the Incarnation means that Mary was the mother of her Lord. This really suggests a lack of historical knowledge because in much of Europe when the king died a son was heir and the king's widow was the dowager queen, with honor, but without authority. So Queen Mary was Mother of her sovereign, Elizabeth II.
Similarly to say Mary is the Mother of God, does not in any way necessarily imply that she is somehow higher than Jesus.
So all these charges of blasphemy and what not not only lead to artificial distinctions between the body of Jesus and the body of Christ and conceal a lack of information about how the whole king thing usually works out.
And for our pains, we get called names. Just fabulous.