Quo Vadis?
- Dr. Lloyd
- 10 hours ago
- 5 min read
Saint Peter, an initial disciple of Christ and later contributor to the Bible, had cause to flee Rome - the capital of the Roman Empire - where he would face his own crucifixion.
As the story goes, Peter encounters Christ, headed to – not from - the City. He asks Jesus, "Quo Vadis?" - a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?’ often translated as "Whither thou goest?”. Jesus replied that he was going to Rome to be crucified again. This encounter appears to have led Peter to return to Rome, where he too would face his own martyrdom.
Christ’s paradoxical behavior was to live to pursue his own death. Twice as a man – not as the son of God.
To comprehend both Christ’s (and Peter’s) decisions leading to their deaths, we need to appreciate the role and power of purpose in their lives.
Christ was born - and resurrected- to bring, near and far, God’s message to the people. For those who accepted Christ and the kingdom of Heaven, a paradise awaited them, where they could turn to God with their hopes, fears, and pains.
Christ’s mission and his teachings stood as great threats by the Roman Empire. His monotheism challenged the idolatry of many of the Romans. His living presence after his crucifixion, even more so, embodied the threat to the absolute power of the Romans.
What was it that eclipsed Christ’s human need to stay alive, to seek his own death. Twice! We can appreciate why when we understand the role and power of purpose in his life.
Christ was born - and resurrected - to bring the message of God to the people: those who already were followers and those open to accepting Christ by living the faith he espoused. They would do so by turning to the kingdom of Heaven that faith would open for them.
Christ’s mission and the power of his teachings, however, stood as great threats to the Roman Empire. By crucifying Christ, the Romans believed they would eliminate the danger his teachings about monotheism and Heaven were to the Empire.
The need to die to achieve his mission
How could Christ pursue his own death? Twice.
His mortal pursuits were grounded in his absolute faith in the Kingdom of Heaven that lay ahead. A Heaven where he and his followers would be welcome as Christians, true to Christ and his teachings. Welcome to them for their turning to Jesus - and his Christian God - with their hopes and suffering. And by following the word of Christ. Not from remaining faithful to the Empire and the stable of its Gods that had collected over many years.
But Christ’s mission and the power of his teachings and his miraculous doings stood as great threats to the Empire. The Romans had decided they needed to crucify him to eliminate the dangers both his monotheism and his power over the people would be to the rule of the polytheistic Empire.
Christ’s faith prevailed – but at the cost of his life. Yet his teachings lived on. They have withstood the test of time and the dimming of his miraculous acts. His crucifixion seemed to further solidify the power Jesus had over the Romans, Jews too. More so because of his sacrifice on the Cross.
Estimates today are that 1.0 billion Catholics populate our globe, over two thousand years after Jesus was executed on the Cross. No passing fancy. Catholicism has been a faith that withstood Christ’s death – likely empowered it.
Quo Vadis? Christ knew.
Where goest thou? is a fundamental question I and possibly we all face in the course of our lives, more as age and the experiences of awe and wonder accrue.
Quo Vadis? is a question which age and circumstances can plant under our skins and into our lives.
For me, after eight decades of life, quo vadis remains more alive than ever. On the heels of a bountiful and productive life, my abilities to contribute and find purpose dwindle. I puzzle now more about where I am going? What purpose do I have? How can I continue to contribute? Where lies the continued meaning in my life?
These are today’s existential questions for me. Different in nature and power from what I might study in a University. Different from whom shall I take to be my partner, even for a lifetime.
Yet, life’s purpose and meaning have not lost their place in my life. Indeed, they are harder to dismiss and more ineffable to me as my sun goes down and the darkness begins. Yet, I want to face and answer them. They seem to me to be the guidance I need for how to live in the diminishing time I still have on this earth; in the body I occupy; and in the face of my dwindling biological clock.
I welcome your thoughts. Whether they come from age, or the other puzzles that living presents to us all. I know I am not alone. What answers come my way will be broadened and deepened by yours, and I hope in a reciprocal manner.
Write me at askdrlloyd@gmail.com. We are not alone in facing and pondering the same questions I am. Our wondering, as individuals and as those in any group, is the seeds for sharing the mostly inescapable questions about life and living we will face as we enter older age. When we grow fearful of leaving even our frail, short human existence. At those so transient moments with a heart still beating and cortical connections still firing, we will face questions that will never abate, at least at those moments we are sufficiently sentient to grip with them.
I have learned from walking Pilgrimage trails a universal call to carry on! It is, Ultreia! A heartening and supportive plea to continue - called out to a fellow Pilgrim to keep going, despite or because of the demands that going further will produce.
Ultreia! a Pilgrim would call out in a resounding voice. No response is sought. But we will see a smile unfold in its recipient, who stays the course, keeps going on.
After all, why stop? The ‘going on’ is the fruit of life, a mixture of smiles and tears, pain and pleasure, belonging (or not) to those who are sentient, with common goals and faith drawn from having a life-giving purpose, and the meaning that comes with the ride.
For our own sake as much as that of our fellow Pilgrims,
Ultreia!
Dr. Lloyd Sederer is a psychiatrist, public health doctor, and non-fiction writer.
You can reach him through his website, askdrlloyd.com