The Sadducees, being more direct in their confrontation of Christ,
ask him what is relatively a silly question,
because they themselves did not believe in the resurrection,
but the Lord, as he always does, takes opportunity to try to bring them to a state of repentance,
and so he uses their example to illustrate a more profound point.
That is, the woman was the chosen people,
and the brothers were the seven patriarchs who were called to lead the chosen people,
to which they responded to none, and so they remained childless.
That is, they turned the revelation,
the revelation of God, into a means to try to establish a worldly kingdom,
and so the Lord is pointing out to them and to all of us
that we are not to live for worldly kingdoms,
nor to seek to establish any mode that will bring us happiness in this life,
because all children of all times and all places are to be raised
in order that they may become citizens of heaven,
to use this time as our soldiers,
to use our sojourn in this life as a time in which we show God that we truly love him.
And so, ultimately, our Lord is instructing them
that because they did not really live the commandments of God,
and most especially, they did not put the one God before their strange gods
and their strange philosophies,
they had no inheritance in the resurrection,
and so it would be given to another people,
that is, the Gentile people,
and indeed, there would be seven patriarchal churches established
in the early life of the church,
and from them would flow the spreading of the gospel
and of the Catholic Church throughout the whole world,
and she would be truly faithful,
she would truly be faithful,
led by holy patriarchs, that is,
those faithful to the teaching of Christ,
and so, ultimately, today's gospel
is a call for all of us,
to be reminded that Christ has established a church
in a hierarchical fashion,
and the patriarchs of the church
are all the bishops throughout the world
united to the Pope
in matters of faith and morals,
and so, we must constantly pray
for the hierarchy of the church,
that they become those holy patriarchs
that the Lord speaks of,
in order that they may truly give to him
citizens for heaven,
for ultimately, our Lord's promise
to Abraham is fulfilled in the mystical body,
for it is her children that will be like the sands
on the shore of the sea,
because she is always and everywhere
seeking one thing, that is,
the eternal salvation of all souls,
and so, let us be reminded this day
to pray always for our bishops,
and most especially for our Holy Father,
that they remain faithful to the teachings of Christ,
and hence, raise all citizens
of this world for the citizenship of heaven,
that is, they witness to the truth
in season and out of season,
in good times and in bad times,
because they are driven by one mission,
that is, the mission of Christ.
He came in order to bestow on us
the fullness of truth,
and to give us the grace
in order to live that truth,
and when the leaders of the church
are inspired by this ideal,
then the church always and everywhere flourishes,
because she is always and everywhere
producing children for heaven,
and so, let us be good citizens of our nation
by recognizing that we cannot have happiness
in this life, because we must first pass from death,
and then we will experience the joy of the resurrection
if we have remained faithful to Christ,
and it is only with this understanding
that any citizen of any nation
can persevere in that virtue,
virtue of patriotism,
which recognizes the good things of its nation
and the bad things of its nation.
It strives to augment the good things,
and it strives by every legitimate means fashionable
to bring its nation to its senses
when it has abandoned the gospel of Christ
and began to promulgate false doctrines
that ultimately are the same thing
the Sadducees were looking for,
a paradise on earth,
a paradise on earth,
a place that does not exist,
because paradise is not to be found here,
it is to be found where the good angels
and all the saints now reside,
that is, in heaven,
where we hope to join them
in praising our good God together
for all eternity.
So help us to be faithful to God
and to site our dead soldiers
in our difficult city,
so they may be called
for mountains,
and be the voice ofel poured over them,
so that they,