Love Conquers Evil

Lately, I find myself saddened by our American society. Our culture of death does not respect the dignity of every human life, disregards truth and relativizes morality. People attend rallies to support the murder of the innocent, promote laws to change the definition of marriage, perform acts of corruption without consequence and shout cries for justice for the poor and marginalized using empty words. There is the threat of losing our religious liberties because promoting certain Judeo-Christian values could eventually be made illegal. Many aspects of life in America today can tempt us to lose hope.

However, I was reminded of the ultimate victory of Christ over evil recently while reading the historical fiction Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz. Published in 1896 in Polish, it was later translated into more than 50 languages and received the Nobel prize for literature in 1905. This classic novel is a reflection on the life of Christians in the Roman Empire in the late first century, a time when the pagan world and Christianity began to clash resulting in conflict and persecution. This inspirational story of the early Christians reminded me that the answer to suffering and evil is not despair but rather an outpouring of love and a deeper commitment to Christ.

Evil Is Not Always Evident

The setting for this book is during the reign of Emperor Nero when the pagan Roman Empire did not know the one true God and promoted a culture with glaring yet unchallenged immorality and wickedness. In Quo Vadis, a great scene early on in the book is of Ligia, a young Christian woman held hostage in Caesar’s palace, sitting in the midst of great luxury at a banquet, surrounded by laughter and being entertained with songs and dancing. Having heard accounts of the many wicked and vile acts committed by Nero, including killing his former wife and son, she was initially repulsed and terrified in his presence. However, in the midst of the wondrous feast, watching Nero socializing with guests and reciting poetry, as well as being struck by the beauty of his wife Poppea, Ligia wonders if she had been unfair and had misjudged this powerful ruler. Ligia will realize appearances can be deceiving as she will find out firsthand Nero truly was a monster, but this account reminded me of some harrowing aspects of evil in our world.

Here on earth, we are all in the midst of a battle between good and evil and this reality is inescapable. The idea of a utopia – creating heaven on earth – is an illusion. God created this world to be a temporary journey, and a time when men, given free will, are to choose to love God or reject Him. However, the more we reject God and His laws, the further away from goodness we will fall. Though not always blatantly manifest, we must always protect ourselves against evil, otherwise, it can seduce us to turn away from God.

We must remain cognizant the power of evil is such that in the blink of an eye we can have fallen into the depths of an illusion unaware. Evil can surround us by masquerading as something beautiful and a source of pleasure and happiness. Evil ideologies are often given to us wrapped in eloquent rhetoric or in a charismatic fashion obscuring the underlying reality. There may even be vast numbers of other people fooled along with us. Evil can be extraordinarily deceiving and, as we are led more and more astray, our consciences can become so blinded we ultimately call evil good and good evil even to the point we find ourselves fighting for this chicanery. The threat of being influenced by evil is so real Scripture often warns us to always be on guard against it with St. Peter exhorting us, “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Response to Evil

Quo Vadis not only elaborates on life within this Roman culture of villainy and wickedness but also describes the varying human responses to it. Some of the pagan Romans, being aware of the immorality and corruption consuming the empire, either accepted it as “normal” or minimized it. The intoxication of physical and emotional pleasures provided by that way of life numbed their consciences and caused moral blindness. The moral emptiness even reached the point where these Romans considered gladiatorial fights, human mutilation by beasts, crucifixions, and creating human torches to be forms of entertainment, and, unfortunately, many of our Christian brothers and sisters in the first few centuries were victims of this nefarious cruelty.

Some Romans did recognize the heinousness of their world but, feeling powerless to transform the culture, they simply gave in, indulging in the pleasures themselves. In Quo Vadis, this attitude is expressed in the character Petronius, a close adviser to Nero and a lover of philosophy and art, who writes to his friend Marcus Vinicius, “As for me, I notice that even a civilized man goes mad when madness is the rule and that there’s even a certain amount of charm in going crazy along with everybody else” (p. 166). There were also some pagans opposed to this twisted culture, but often their cries of protest were quickly squashed by the empire through enslavement, imprisonment or execution resulting in far too many other dissidents being silenced due to fear.

In contrast, the response of many of the Christians to the Roman culture was vastly different. For them, Christ was the shield against evil and, preferring to die rather than betray the truths of their faith, they stood firm against the wickedness and immorality of the Empire. For the Romans, violence – even murder – was a justified form of personal vengeance, but the Christians countered this by unceasingly promoting love and forgiveness for all people especially one’s enemies. Christians held the virtues of humility and selflessness in high esteem despite Roman criticisms that these values were novel and completely counterproductive to one’s achievements. In contrast to the various social classes dividing people and determining one’s worth, the Christians resolutely fostered equality and love for all, holding every single human life as sacred from conception to natural death.

For Romans, death was either feared and dreaded or merely accepted as an inevitable end to existence, and they held the goal of this life was to avoid suffering and live every moment to its fullest. Christians, on the other hand, had a radical view of life and death. This earthly life is to be patiently endured acknowledging its eternal consequences, and one is able to embrace suffering and death with hope, peace, and joy because of the greater glory promised by Christ in the life to come. Though turning the Roman world upside down and being hated, misunderstood and tormented for their beliefs, these early Christians did not compromise and were unwavering in their steadfast love for Christ.

Love Conquerors Evil

In the novel Quo Vadis, the power of love is beautifully captured. The pagan Vinicius initially is inflamed with an eros love for the Christian woman Ligia. His love is selfish, greedy, based on pleasure and desire and leads him to become irate when his love is rejected. Over time, his love for Ligia evolves to become truly a form of agape love, and, in the end, his desire is ultimately for her happiness, even willing to sacrifice his own life for hers.

Through the teachings of the Christians and especially through the witness of their lives, Vinicius also experiences the birth and growth of a new love, a love he never knew could even exist. In contrast to a belief in the pagan gods who were to be manipulated through one’s sacrifices, he becomes awestruck by the realization that God – the Supreme Being, our Creator – loves us and calls us to love Him in return. And he, like many others in history, discovered that through the maturation of this supernatural love found in Christianity a transforming power arises able to literally convert the hearts of multitudes and conquer evil.

This love moves us beyond the self and points outward (to the other) and upward (to God). It opens the eyes to beauty, the heart to goodness and the mind to the truth. As pagan Rome was confronted with supernatural charity in the first centuries, it proved the soldiers protecting the borders from barbarians, the mythical gods providing protection and the power of the emperor imposing a particular way of life were not the impregnable forces they seemed to be.

Ultimately, the love of Christ was shown to be the most powerful penetrating force Rome had ever faced eventually shattering the pagan worldview. Throughout Quo Vadis, in the witness of those espousing an authentic Christian life, the power of love not only converts hearts but destroys societal classes and ethnic divisions. It transforms hatred, scorn, haughtiness, oppression and covetousness into compassion, kindness, humility, selflessness and sacrifice. And history has shown the impact of this Christian charity continued to flow throughout the Roman Empire for centuries making the soil fertile and resulting in the seeds of Christ’s truths flowering into the conversion of the Empire.

Pagan Rome and the Post-Modern World

Quo Vadis describes first century Rome yet our post-Christian culture today is, unfortunately, falling back into a way of life with many similarities to this pagan culture. Today immorality and wickedness are abounding. Evil is rearing its powerful head. People are no longer celebrating death by means of the beasts and gladiators in the arena but this is witnessed in the shouts of abortion supporters and in the praises for euthanasia. The culture of death surrounds us offering its many deceptive pleasures and temptations. Corruption is seen in government leaders, falsehoods are presented as truths, God is denied and the idea of sin is rejected. The overwhelming dangers prevalent today seem to be echoes from the past and frankly are very frightening.

As Christians, we know that goodness and truth are ultimately victorious as evident by Christ crucified and resurrected. Our hope and confidence are in Jesus Christ. History gives us a glimpse of this triumph because, in the first few centuries of the Church, we see amidst the darkness in the pagan Roman Empire the light of Christ prevailed. Against all odds, the pagan empire had been converted and Christianity became the official religion by the end of the fourth century. However, this conversion did not happen by Christians sitting back in silence. The truth was not compromised. Evil was not tolerated. Rather the courageous and bold Christians fearlessly stood firm and upheld all God had revealed, even the difficult moral truths.

In the witness of an authentic Christian life and in the preaching of the gospel, Christians led others to Christ, who is the only answer for all that ails us. Christians genuinely loved their neighbors, were humble and selfless and were prepared to sacrifice everything including their own lives for Christ and His truths. Christians, knowing they were not immune to falling into the downward spiral of sin and evil, emphasized the necessity of remaining steadfast in faith. Recognizing how the world entices us to become indifferent to truth and charity, Christians stressed knowing Christ deeply, as He is the only protection.

When face to face with monstrous rulers like Nero and widespread persecution, the Christians before us are constant witnesses through their joy in the midst of tribulations that the sufferings of this life are nothing compared to the riches to come for those who love Christ until the end. And seeing the faith, hope, and love of these early Christians remind me the only way to avoid despair today is to grow ever more devoted to Christ in my own life and to bring the light of His love to others.