All Will Be Well

I learned a new word today: agathism, which is the doctrine that, in the end, all things tend toward good. It is from the Greek word “agathos,” which means “good.”

Some teachers who affirmed the doctrine of agathism were St. Paul, who wrote, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28); Julian of Norwich, who heard Jesus say in a vision, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well”; Teilhard de Chardin, who counseled, “Trust in the slow, slow work of God”; and Martin Luther King, Jr., who observed, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Persons who believe in agathism don’t deny the presence of misfortune or evil in the world but trust that everything ultimately will end well. Christians are agathists because they believe that the betrayal, crucifixion, and death of Jesus could not prevent him from being resurrected as the Christ. The love and mercy of God does not prevent misfortune or evil but transforms it. As Catherine Upchurch says in Give Us This Day upon reflecting on the death of the Holy Innocents, “Violence would not magically disappear in the coming of Jesus, but [the evangelists] knew his very presence in the midst of it would begin to transform the world.”

We can hasten this transformation of the world by participating in the work of Jesus, who demonstrated God’s love through his ministry of presence, healing, teaching, and advocacy for the poor and oppressed. As John of the Cross said, “Where there is no love, put love and you will find love.” And thus we will taste and see the goodness of the Lord (Ps 34:9).