In today’s Gospel, the Sadducees ask Jesus a question that reveals their preoccupation with the world. Because the Sadducees do not believe in immortality, the purpose of the question they ask Jesus is to discredit the idea of life after death. Their difficulty with comprehending what life after death would be like stems from their attempt to imagine Heaven using only their earthly experience: “At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.”
Christ’s response reveals that the mistake the Sadducees are making is assuming that the relationships we have here on earth will remain the same in Heaven. Christ tells us that we will be like the angels in Heaven who, in all things, worship the Lord. The purpose of our earthly relationships, especially marriage, is to walk with one another on the way to Heaven. Therefore, being united with God in Heaven will be the “completion” of those earthly relationships.
God’s promise of Heaven, of eternal life with Him, is not something that we can ever understand based on our experience on earth. We know that our relationships – again, especially marriage – are meant to be an imitation and a foreshadowing of our relationship with God when we get to Heaven but, we do not know a perfect relationship (with God or with man) because we are marred by sin. Our faith and our hope are in the resurrection because it is through the resurrection that we know we will be united with God in perfect relationship with him. As Christ tells the Sadducees about God: “He is not a God of the dead but of the living.”
May our hope in the resurrection and eternal life with God guide is in all our thoughts and actions. May we remember every day that our God loves us enough to desire nothing more than for us to share eternal life with Him.
Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.
Feature Image Credit: Matias Medina, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/10531-creacion-obra-capilla-sixtina
Tami Urcia grew up in Western Michigan, a middle child in a large Catholic family. She spent early young adulthood as a missionary in Mexico, studying theology and philosophy, then worked and traveled extensively before finishing her Bachelor’s Degree in Western Kentucky. She loves tackling home improvement projects, finding fun ways to keep her four boys occupied, quiet conversation with the hubby and finding unique ways to love. She works at her parish, is a guest blogger on 
Kathryn James Hermes, FSP, is the author of the newly released title
Shannon Whitmore currently lives in northwestern Virginia with her husband, Andrew, and their two children, John and Felicity. When she is not caring for her children, Shannon enjoys writing for her blog, Love in the Little Things, reading fiction, and freelance writing. She has experience serving in the areas of youth ministry, religious education, sacramental preparation, and marriage enrichment.
Merridith Frediani’s perfect day includes prayer, writing, unrushed morning coffee, reading, tending to dahlias, and playing Sheepshead with her husband and three kids. She loves finding God in the silly and ordinary. She writes for Ascension Press, Catholic Mom, and her local Catholic Herald in Milwaukee. Her first book Draw Close to Jesus: A Woman’s Guide to Eucharistic Adoration is expected to be released summer 2021. You can reach her at 
Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife and mother. She is blessed to be able to homeschool, bake bread and fold endless piles of laundry. When not planning a school day, writing a blog post or cooking pasta, Kate can be found curled up with a book or working with some kind of fiber craft. Kate blogs at 
Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002. He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.
David Dashiell is a freelance writer, editor, and proofreader based in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. His writing has been featured in Crisis Magazine and The Imaginative Conservative, and his editing is done for a variety of publishers, such as Sophia Institute and Scepter. He can be reached at 
Dr. Alexis Dallara-Marsh is a board-certified neurologist who practices in Bergen County, NJ. She is a wife to her best friend, Akeem, and a mother of two little ones on Earth and two others in heaven above.
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