Saturday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

The Gospel for today is a discourse between the Sadducees and Jesus. The Sadducees ask Jesus a question on marriage and how the laws of marriage would follow one into the afterlife. Our Lord proceeds to speak on how there is no marriage between those who are found worthy and are risen in the “coming age.” Although this discussion is warranted for theology, one may find this a strange matter for ordinary life. But what stood out to me was this: “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.” What about the coming age relieves the need for the vocation of marriage?

Our Lord here, I think, is making a beautiful distinction between how our relationship with Him is to be understood before and after the resurrection. Marriage is a sacrament that symbolizes the union that Christ has with His Church. Here on earth, we as humans need this sign to remind us of the beautiful unity that we have as baptized individuals with Christ our King. It is a wonderful vocation that gives witness to the love shared between Christ and His Bride. This is one of the reasons why Our Lord has given us sacramental marriage. However, Our Lord, in this passage, is trying to bring us into the deeper meaning, past the sign and symbol of marriage into the actual reality that lies beyond it.

And that is this: in Heaven, there will be no need for the representation of unity because there will only be unity. We will see Christ as He is, face to face, just as the angels do now. “Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) Perhaps no one fully comprehends the meaning of this verse. We cannot understand the full capacity of Our Lord’s love and desire to be united to His creatures. But we can still hear His call. And the vocation of marriage is among the greatest of God’s calls. For now, we see union with Him in signs and symbols, but someday we shall know that union with Him in its fullness.

What does this mean for married couples? It means that there is a great need for your vocation in this world. Your vocation is the great witness to society out of which shines forth Christ’s love for His people. Live your vocation proudly and devoutly! And how do you do this? By loving your spouse as Christ loves His Church. And how did Christ love His Church? By sacrificing His life on the cross.

Reflection by Weston, seminarian