Today we are commemorating Saint Anthony the Great.
One day a monk came to him and asked, “How can I save myself?”
To which the saint replied: “Do not worry about the past, do not rely on your righteousness, and restrain your tongue and belly.”
Of these three rules, I would especially like to pay attention to the first. Sometimes people carry on with anguish about a past that can’t be changed. This is not repentance.
Repentance is the renunciation of sin. One must confess sin, and one must draw conclusions from past mistakes for the future – but one should not be constantly digging into what has happened. That is a destructive condition that only takes a person’s attention and power away from what is happening now and what we really can change for the better.
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