Didn’t Jesus Say There’s No Marriage in Heaven?

[_Abyssinia]

See what Saint John Chryosostom said to a widow who had lost her husband from the following article:

A friend of John’s had lost her husband after only five, but very happy, years of marriage. To console her, John wrote her a letter, which is known to history as “Letter to a Young Widow.”
Chrysostom begins by assuring her that God wills her to see her husband again in Heaven, and that she must remain steadfast in her faith so that she may achieve this destiny. He writes: “But if you wish to behold him face to face…do your best to manifest a life like his, and then assuredly you shall depart one day to join the same company with him, not to dwell with him for five years as you did here, nor for 20, or 100, nor for a thousand or twice that number but for infinite and endless ages.”

Beautiful words, for sure, but doesn’t this contradict Our Lord’s teaching? When I hear others analyzing this Scriptural passage, I am often surprised how much weight they give to the first clause (“they neither marry…”) and how little attention they pay to the second (“…like angels in heaven.”). While the primary purpose of marriage of fruitful multiplication no longer applies in Heaven, our Lord’s answer in no way precludes the friendship of marriage from enduring. And if this is the case, it endures no longer in its fallen and flawed form; it is now like that of the angels. The angels in Heaven have a friendship—a spiritual love and intimacy for each other borne of the presence of God—that we humans on Earth cannot fathom. And it is endless. “Goodbye” is a word never uttered in Heaven.

National Catholic Register

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m.ncregister.com

Read more at the link.

As far as I understand it, marriage as exists on here on earth doesnt exist in heaven, but that in no way precludes that we can be reunited with our dearly departed in Heaven and be with them for eternity. We don’t know all the details about how that will show itself in Heaven, but we can be assured by what Saint Chyrosostom said to the young widow, that she could be reunited with him in heaven and be with him for eternity.

 

[tafan2]

People who have loved ones whom they believe to be in Heaven and whom they are looking forward to seeing again will not like this, because the ties of affection are so strong that they cannot imagine anything overcoming them. However, I believe that those ties can be pushed far into the shadows by the overcoming power derived from the experience of being in the physical presence of the Holy Trinity.

You make it sound as if we will have almost no relationship with other humans because of an extraordinary focus on God. I can’t see it this way, the overcoming power derived from being in the presence of the Blessed Trinity will draw us closer to all of our fellow man. It will not push these relationships into the shadows, it will bring them to perfection and light.

 

[Zaccheus]

the overcoming power derived from being in the presence of the Blessed Trinity will draw us closer to all of our fellow man. It will not push these relationships into the shadows, it will bring them to perfection and light.

@tafan2
Exactly so. Those we love on Earth we will love more strongly and more perfectly in Paradise, precisely because we and our loved ones will see God face to face and love Him with perfect love.

 

[Diaconia]

Yes, Jesus said that. Yes, Jesus meant that.

Married love is a wonderful sacrament. But marriage doesn’t even approach the kind of joy everyone has in heaven.

There are only a few bodies in heaven now. Your parents and spouses are there in spirit only.

When the Lord Jesus returns then the bodies will be resurrected and join their souls in heaven.

Until then you won’t “see” them, you’ll simply know they are there. Nor will you “touch” them or “speak” to them. Those are all functions of a corporeal, rather than a spiritual reality.

Eye has not seen, ear has no heard…
Deacon Christopher

 

[DaveBj]

Yes, Jesus said that. Yes, Jesus meant that.

Married love is a wonderful sacrament. But marriage doesn’t even approach the kind of joy everyone has in heaven.

There are only a few bodies in heaven now. Your parents and spouses are there in spirit only.

^^^ This. I still have a foot in the southern Baptist / Pentecostal world of my cousins (mainly because of the music), and one hears things all the time about departed loved ones dancing before the Throne, walking the streets of gold, moving into their mansions, embracing previously departed family members, etc. My internal reaction is something like, “Wait a minute – all those things are physical activities that require bodies, and we won’t have our bodies back until the General Resurrection.” However, I keep my mouth shut on those occasions.

D

 

[Vico]

Matt 22:30 is certainly a difficult passage to understand outside of the traditional reading. Some have suggested that Jesus does not refer to an abolition of marriage but rather a change in how it functions and comes about socially.

John J. Kilgallen a catholic scholar has held for a long time, there would be “marriage” in the resurrection:

“Though Jesus does not say whose wife the widow will be in the next life, it is reasonable to assume she will be the wife of the first husband, whose life was ended here, but will continue forever (with her) in the resurrected life. “The woman who was the wife of the seven brothers did not marry the seven brothers. He married the first and was given to the six in order to procreate children in the name of the first. All of her children will be credited to her first husband, who was her true love and spouse”.

What do you think?

Canon law states that the covenant is until death only not eternal.

CIC

1141 A marriage that is ratum et consummatum can be dissolved by no human power and by no cause, except death.

 

[Diaconia]

To be fair, they are expressing the greatest joy that we can imagine, which has the right intention in mind.

Whatever is the best thing we can envision here – it will be infinitely greater in heaven.

Our hearts are restless, until they rest in you, O Lord!
Deacon Christopher