Daily Death, Eternal Life

Fr. Matthew Tomeny, MIC reminds us that St. Anthony the Great taught a timeless maxim: “Die daily, if you wish to live eternally” (St.  Anthony the Great, Apophthegmata Patrum). This ancient wisdom points directly to Jesus’ own invitation: “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Mt 16:24; NABRE). The Gospel therefore does not present the cross as a burden to avoid, but as the very means by which we enter the kingdom of God.

To “pick up our cross daily and deny ourselves” (Lk 9:23; NABRE) is to submit our personal will to the divine will that the Father has already expressed: “Thy will be done.” The Church’s commandments—rooted in the Decalogue (Ex 20:1‑17; NABRE)—serve as practical markers that illuminate God’s will on a general level. They guide us in discerning the daily choices that either draw us nearer to Christ or pull us toward the fleeting comforts of this world.

When we embrace the daily “death” that St. Anthony describes, we are not merely renouncing pleasures; we are opening ourselves to the transformative power of God’s grace. Each act of self‑denial becomes a step toward the eternal life promised by Christ. As the Catechism explains, “The Christian is called to die to self and live for God” (CCC 1033). In this surrender, the cross ceases to be a symbol of suffering and becomes the gateway to resurrection.

Therefore, let us heed both the desert wisdom of St. Anthony and the living Word of Christ. May every sunrise find us choosing the cross over convenience, the commandment over compromise, and the will of the Father over our own desires. In doing so, we fulfill the prayer of the Lord: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10; NABRE).