You better believe it. Of course. Her womb, as the Tabernacle, contained the Word of God.
This would seem to make Mary herself the equivalent of a holy church, or the Ark of the Covenant, or the Shroud, etc. This appears to me to be a bit dehumanizing, since it makes her into more of a "thing" than a person we can relate to. I don't understand it.
"You better believe it. Of course. Her womb, as the Tabernacle, contained the Word of God.
This would seem to make Mary herself the equivalent of a holy church, or the Ark of the Covenant, or the Shroud, etc. This appears to me to be a bit dehumanizing, since it makes her into more of a "thing" than a person we can relate to. I don't understand it."
She is compared to more than that, FK. In various services she is compared to the Holy of Holies, the golden candlesticks, incense urns; she is even called a "heifer" and a "butter mountain" in some versions of the Akathist Hymn. Speaking of which, here's a link to one form of the Akathist. Read the introduction so you can tell the difference between references to Christ and others to the Theotokos:
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/m_akathist_e.htm
I always thought of the Blessed Virgin as the Tabernacle and the Holy Church, and at the same time I pray to her and it would never occur to me that she is anything but a human being.
Typology is indeed hard to comprehend at times. Here is another quandary: the Church is (1) the body of christ, and (2) the Virgin Mary, and (3) the mystical bride of Christ.