I suggest to you my own personal thoughts in this regard.  The Body of Jesus has parts that are seen and parts that are unseen, just like our physical bodies.  The parts that we can see in the Body of Christ are the parts that are like you and me—parts of the body functioning in the world.

The parts which are unseen still exist and function though we cannot see them—just as we cannot see our liver, kidneys, bladder, arteries, etc. function.  We know that they are there and function because we continue to stay healthy.

Now, the saints who have gone before us are still part of the Body of Christ, but they are the part which is unseen, nevertheless, a reality—an unseen reality.

I see the Blessed Virgin Mary as part of the unseen Body of Christ, and I see her as the very heart.  For if the heart in our bodies never began pumping blood, we could not exist.  Mary’s yes began the life of the body of Jesus Christ and continues beating in the mystical Body of Jesus Christ, with Jesus Himself being the head.

St. Paul said:  “Now you together are Christ’s body, but each of you is a different part of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) The Blessed Virgin Mary remains as a vital functioning part in the Body of Christ.

Our Roman Catholic Church teaches that we have salvation through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Himself said:  “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”  Mary’s role takes nothing away from that fact of our faith.  Her cooperation in salvation history, her yes gave her the unique place of being the first Christian.  In other words, the very first to invite Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to come into her.  Jesus came into Mary—into her soul, body, and spirit—in a way we will never experience, for her role is unique in the Body of Christ.