Marcus: The Centurion's Journey to Faith - Episode #17

Journal Entry - Monday, November 30, 26 A.D.

Journal Entry - Marcus Aelius Vitalis
Date: Monday, November 30, 26 A.D. (Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Agrippa, 778 Ab urbe condita)

I woke up this morning with a heaviness in my chest that I haven’t felt in a long time. Not the weight of armor, not the burdens of duty, but something deeper. Something I had long thought buried. Her face appeared in my mind the moment I opened my eyes—the love of my life, the one I lost. I try not to dwell on the past too often. As a soldier, you learn quickly that looking back only slows you down. But today, her memory came rushing back to me as vividly as if she were standing in the room beside me.

She would have understood the choices I’ve been forced to make lately. More than anyone, she knew the conflict that always waged within me—duty to Rome versus what felt like a higher calling, though I could never name it. Even back then, she could see through the stoicism I wore as a shield. Maybe that’s why her memory is haunting me now. I’m faced with another decision, one that feels just as monumental as the choice to leave her behind all those years ago.