Is there anything better?
My fiancé and I have been engaged for about four months and we are thrilled! We’ve both seen the fruits of the Spirit as we grew in our “dating” relationship (i.e. courtship) and even more as we further prepare to build a life together. While we were dating, we were a two and a half hour car ride away from each other, so visits were only on weekends or holidays. After we got engaged, she moved closer to me. We are now only thirty minutes apart from each other. If we really miss each other or have a bad day, we don’t have to rely on a video call; I jump in my car and we eat some ice cream together.
Is there anything better?
I don’t know… things are prrrrrretty great. But it’s hard to fathom and easy to forget that we have an even greater treasure awaiting us: Holy Matrimony! We will share a home. On lazy weekend mornings, I can make her my signature pancakes (which are basically just regular pancakes, but with approximated 10-zillion chocolate chips). We can put our feet up by the fireplace as the kindling warms us at the end of an autumn week. We can suffer the misfortune of novice cooking… together.
Is there anything better?
No. To my best knowledge, I would say no. In light of my new perspective on Eros, I understand the Sadducees to be asking Christ in today’s Gospel as: “Who will receive the promise for the greatest joy of the human experience?” And He explains how “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.” But as I read the passage a few more times, the lines that I keep coming back to are: “They can no longer die” and “he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
Love awakens a part of you that no other force can; Love brings you to life. I can’t imagine a greater love than I have with my fiancé. Living and growing in relationship with her, that is what it feels like to be in love, completely alive. In fact, I would be indignant if someone said I would have to be without her. But for as alive as I feel because of our relationship, I know it is only a glimpse, barely a taste of the immersive Love that is promised in heaven. And there is nothing better than that.
¿Hay algo mejor que esto?
Mi prometida y yo hemos estado comprometidos durante unos cuatro meses y estamos encantados. Ambos hemos visto los frutos del Espíritu a medida que crecemos en nuestra relación de “noviazgo” (es decir, cortejo) y aún más a medida que nos preparamos para construir una vida juntos. Mientras éramos novios, vivíamos a dos horas y media el uno del otro, así que las visitas eran solamente los fines de semana o los días festivos. Después de que nos comprometimos, ella se mudó más cerca de mí y ahora estamos a solo treinta minutos de distancia. Si realmente nos extrañamos o tenemos un mal día, no tenemos que depender de una llamada de video; me subo a mi carro y comemos un helado juntos.
¿Hay algo mejor que esto?
No sé… las cosas están muy bien. Pero es difícil de comprender y fácil de olvidar que tenemos un tesoro aún mayor esperándonos: ¡el Santo Matrimonio! Compartiremos un hogar. En las mañanas perezosas de los fines de semana, puedo prepararle mis panqueques característicos (que son básicamente panqueques normales, pero con aproximadamente 10 mil millones de chispas de chocolate). Podemos levantar los pies cerca de la chimenea mientras la leña nos calienta al final de una semana de otoño. Podemos sufrir la desgracia de cocinar como novatos… juntos.
¿Hay algo mejor que esto?
No. Hasta donde yo sé, diría que no. A la luz de mi nueva perspectiva sobre Eros, entiendo que los saduceos le preguntan a Cristo en el Evangelio de hoy: “¿Quién recibirá la promesa del mayor gozo de la experiencia humana?” Y Él explica cómo “los que sean juzgados dignos de ella y de la resurrección de los muertos, no se casarán”. Pero al leer el pasaje unas cuantas veces más, las líneas a las que vuelvo una y otra vez son: “ni podrán ya morir” y “Dios no es Dios de muertos, sino de vivos, pues para él todos viven”.
El amor despierta una parte de ti que ninguna otra fuerza puede; el amor te da vida. No puedo imaginar un amor más grande que el que siento por mi prometida. Vivir y crecer en relación con ella, eso es lo que se siente estar enamorado, completamente vivo. De hecho, me indignaría si alguien dijera que tendría que estar sin ella. Pero por más viva que me sienta debido a nuestra relación, sé que es solo un vistazo, apenas una muestra del amor increíble que se promete en el cielo. Y no hay nada mejor que eso.
This reflection was reposted from Diocesan Archives. Author: Matthew Juliano
Feature Image Credit: Brooke Cagle, unsplash.com/photos/two-person-holding-hands-while-standing-oMtXGNw4ZEs
David Dashiell is a freelance author and editor in the Nashville, Tennessee area. He has three children, a degree in theology, and enjoys writing about philosophy, theology, culture, music, and comedy. You can find his personal blog, Serious Daydreams, on 
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