Life is hard. Life in this world is filled with suffering, trials, temptation, and countless other problems. And God knows this. Ever since the fall of Adam and 
Eve, this has how the world has been. Yet God loves us so much that he sent His only son to become one of us, and to undergo the same hardships, temptations, and sufferings that we do, and while He did not sin, He suffered and died for ours. Jesus proved through His life, death, and resurrection that we can have that same eternal life that He has – if we trust and believe in Him.
That’s easier said than done. Sure, we all may say we believe in Jesus and his resurrection, but do we believe? Do we fully believe, with true sincerity that He rose from the dead, and it is truly His body and blood we celebrate during Mass on Sundays and throughout the week? Do we believe that we truly receive His grace through the sacraments? Do we pray with a sincere heart, knowing that He rose from the dead and that we will too if we trust in Him, and that our death will simply be a transformation? Will we go to heaven? Is there a Heaven? Will my loved ones and my friends be there? We may say we believe, but do we truly believe? It’s not easy to do, especially in this world we live in. But these are questions we have to continually ask ourselves and experience through scripture and the grace of the sacraments. And that is what the readings are about today.
The first reading from Revelations is again, very visual, amazing, symbolic, yet simple all at once. Essentially, John is describing our death and resurrection and how after a time of tribulation and repentance we are called up to Heaven. We go through many trials on earth, yet if we love God and repent and follow this cycle, we will be called to Heaven. Life is full of ups and downs, many tribulations that test us from time to time. Some of us are more faithful, always seeking God’s will, asking forgiveness, and loving Him throughout these trials, but others are not and have a more difficult time. We are very fortunate to have the sacraments to get us through these times, to help us get to Heaven. And perhaps the greatest of these is Marriage. This is what Christ speaks to us about today.
The question from the Sadducees in the Gospel regards the resurrection and if it exists. And they pose a question for Christ, that if we do indeed have life after death, if we are widowed and have multiple spouses, who will we be married to in Heaven? This is a great question!
Marriage is a special sacrament, a special grace. Marriage is a covenant where a man and a women promise to take one another as their spouse, promising to be true to each other in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, and to love and honor one another all the days of their lives.
In other words, we are promising to love our spouse as Christ loves us and to do everything we can to get our spouse to Heaven. Life is hard. The world is tough, and marriage is a special grace God bestows upon us to help us make each other better people, fight off the evils of this world and get to Heaven. The psalm for today says:
Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.
Marriage is a covenant between a man, a woman, and God where we agree to go into battle together with God as our bond, to try to get each other to Heaven, and if we’re blessed to have kids, to raise them to do the same. In this world, we need this special grace to make it. We are each others rock. It’s tough to do it on our own, and through the love of marriage and the grace of God, it makes it a little bit easier. Marriage is a gift. The Sadducees have a great question. But Jesus’ answer is better.
You see, Jesus says that marriage is for this earth only. Marriage, like all the sacraments is a tool to give us special graces we need to get to Heaven. Once we get to Heaven, we are in a state of grace! We no longer need the grace of the sacraments.
Will we be with the people whom we loved and had relationships with while on the earth? Well, since God is love, and Heaven is love, that seems to suggest we will be with those whom we loved while on earth and had loving, graceful relationships with. But the grace we experience in Heaven will be beyond anything we can imagine or experience here on earth. At that time in Heaven, marriage is no longer necessary. As Jesus says:
“The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels.
Once we are resurrected and in Heaven, we cannot die. We no longer need the graces of marriage or any of the other sacraments because we are already angels in Heaven, with Christ. As much as we loved our spouses on earth, it pales in comparison the love and compassion we will feel from Christ when in Heaven.
Again, this is easier said than done. Divorce rates are at an all time high in this world, and marriage does not seem to be as sacred as it once was. People want to give up too easily and not honor their commitments, they want to do what makes themselves happy, or they don’t want to get married at all. This world is full of all sorts of distractions and evils. It’s tough, and it’s hard, and it’s unforgiving. But going through life together, with someone you love with Christ as your bond will help make it a little easier to bear, and together can help one another get to Heaven and live in eternal marriage with Christ.
