The Unspeakable

If then the end having been repaired to the origin and the issue of things having been made to resemble their beginning, he restores that condition which rational nature once enjoyed... so that all the consciousness of evil has departed..., when there is nowhere any death...,nowhere any evil at all, then truly God will be all in all.

-Origen, De Principiis

In my mind, the most poignant theological points come from the anecdotes from the lives of the saints. There is one in Dal Gal's biography of St. Pius X that I will only paraphrase here. In this episode of St. Pius X's life, he was still merely the bishop of Mantua. He was riding in a carriage with a seminarian then studying in his years of theology. When passing a Jewish cemetery, the seminarian asked the prelate whether it would be at all beneficial to pray for those departed Jews who had not known Christ. At this, the then Bishop Sarto uncovered his head and began to recite a De Profundis.

He then explained to the seminarian that he should be very zealous when it comes to his theological studies, but at the same time he should remember that the mercy of God will always transcend all that he could possibly know.

In this vein, to dare to hope that all are saved for me is a bit obscene, in the original sense that it is "off-stage". We have no right to say anything about this here or to second guess the promises and ways of God. There are certain things that should never be said, and for me this is the most significant one. How will the good triumph forever if there is still evil? How will God be victorious if He still has enemies?

In love, there are things that we expect but we should not talk about them. One should expect the smile, the kiss, and the gift. But one should do this with trust and silently, not trying to reclaim what we think is fair. God is the greatest lover, and He will exceed any of our expectations of what the world to come will be like. But, pace Von Balthasar, to muse about it out loud is a bit of a mood spoiler.