Jesus does not say that it is evil to call Mary ‘blessed’, nor is there any reason why he would. However, he makes it abundantly clear that paying attention to Mary and to a physical relationship is to miss the point - that HE is the focus, not Mary.
He isn’t saying to never use the word blessed in connection to Mary, but he IS making very clear that the woman should be focusing instead on who Jesus is, and obeying God. It is the same point He makes when He says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
It isn’t that Mary is bad, but that focusing on her misses the point - and JESUS is the point!
That is true of all of Mariology. We are NOT to raise her up and exalt her and pay attention to the creature. Pay attention instead to the Creator!
That these passages teach this isn’t just my opinion, but the opinion of the Catholic Church, in the footnotes given:
“The beatitude in Luke 11:28 should not be interpreted as a rebuke of the mother of Jesus [a silly comment, actually, since NO ONE claims it is a rebuke of her]; see the note on Luke 8:21. Rather, it emphasizes (like Luke 2:35) that attentiveness to God’s word is more important than biological relationship to Jesus.” The note on Luke 8:21 says, “The family of Jesus is not constituted by physical relationship with him but by obedience to the word of God. In this, Luke agrees with the Marcan parallel (Mark 3:31-35), although by omitting Mark 3:33 and especially Mark 3:20-21 Luke has softened the Marcan picture of Jesus’ natural family. Probably he did this because Mary has already been presented in Luke 1:38 as the obedient handmaid of the Lord who fulfills the requirement for belonging to the eschatological family of Jesus; cf also Luke 11:27-28.”
Mary’s position before God is the same as all believers - a member of the family based on belief and obedience, not being the vessel that bore Him.
He never says "focus on Me" in that passage. He says that indeed the saints are to be venerated for their faith in Him, and not his mother alone. He never says, like you rightly note, "do not venerate any saints", he simply points out why we should do so.
It is clear from that passage (and its counterpart in Luke 8) that veneration of a saint is focusing on Christ. That is Who makes them saints.
Mary’s position before God is the same as all believers - a member of the family based on belief and obedience, not being the vessel that bore Him
Where does it say so in the Bible? The idea of equality of all saints is nowhere taught. In fact, the opposite is taught: that there is a hierarchy in the Kingdom of Heaven, and the hierarchy is based on service (Matthew 5:19). So, what's Mary's service? Rather unique, wouldn't you say? The Gospel agrees with me (Luke 1:28,30,35,43-55, John 19:26-27, Acts 1:14, Apocalypse 12:1-17).