My mother was widowed at the age of 29 and was left with three children under the age of 3. She lived her life in care for us and never remarried. Perhaps that was part of the culture of first generation Italian American pre-Vatican II Catholic families. We see in Mark’s Gospel that in the Jewish culture of Jesus’s time, the deceased husband’s brothers were responsible to marry his brother’s widow and continue the deceased’s lineage. The widow appears willing to accept her fate. The Sadducees try to trap Jesus with their question about resurrected life and our human understanding of eternal life.
In my conversations with people contemplating remarriage after a spouse’s death, the question often arises of what will my relationships look like in heaven when I die. Jesus’s response is that God is not the God of the dead but of the living. We have a God who desires to give each of us today the fullness of our heart’s desires in the midst of our tragedies, bumps and hardships according to his will. God wants for us the fulfillment of all good things, the promise of eternal life and the complete fullness of his love now.
Where will I find the God of the living today?
—Joe Spina is a former member of the Parish Mission Team of the Archdiocese of New York as well as working in prison ministry. He trained as an Ignatian spiritual director through the Center for Spirituality and Justice in Bronx, NY.
“Editor’s note: this reflection was written before the recent unrest and the protests around the United States. For resources on racial injustice, visit Ignatian Solidarity Network.”