As I grow older, I find myself checking out the obituaries far more often than I used to. Often when a widow or a widower dies, a picture of the deceased and her/his partner appears with the caption, “Together again.” I believe the families who prepare such obituaries mean well. There is consolation in knowing that our loved ones are reunited in heaven.
Today’s Gospel, however, suggests that they are rejoined in a different, more vibrant way. The Sadducees’ argument only makes sense when resurrection equals resuscitation to the life we now experience. Clearly this is not the case. Our relationships with all those we have loved will be transformed into something even deeper and richer. As St. Paul suggests in First Corinthians, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the human heart the things which God has prepared for those that love Him.”
—Fr. Ken Styles, S.J. does pastoral ministry at Walsh Jesuit High School, Cuyahoga Falls, OH