God's Elect

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Souls, all of those who have gone before us passing through the door of death into eternal life. In the first reading of today's liturgy, Wisdom 3: 1-9,  we are told that the "souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them."  Some may look upon the death of their loved ones merely from the viewpoint of being "an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But, the author of the book of Wisdom, tells us that "they are in peace."  You and I might  believe that they were punished here on earth, "yet...their hope [was] full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold tried in the furnace [of life here on earth], he proved them, as sacrificial offering he took them to himself."  Passing through the door of death, our loved ones now "abide with [God] in love: because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect." And we, and they, are God's elect through Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.