"Death to Self"

(Painting of St. Jane de Chantal being guided to Heaven by St. Francis de Sales, Annecy, France)

In our modern culture, we read about "self-image", "self-awareness", "self-esteem", and a whole bunch of other "selfs". We never hear about "death to self". What is it? It's not something morbid or suicidal. It's not something unhealthy or unnatural. It simply means detachment from our own will, and attachment to God's Will.

Came across a beautiful quote about this today:

"The most striking feature in [Founders of Religious Orders'] character, that which finishes and perfects it, is detachment, defined by pious writers as death to self. Chosen instruments in the hands of God, they must be mere tools, unresisting and devoid of self-guidance. The less they rely upon self, the greater their value. As soon as they renounce self, God takes possession of them, and finding them supple and submissive, ready for everything, dead to everything, He does great things with them and in them."

~ Monseigneur Bougaud, Bishop of Laval. St. Chantal and the Foundation of the Visitation, 1895.

The saints put themselves under the guidance of a good Catholic spiritual director, and then put aside their own wishes in order to fulfill the Will of God. Once they got "self" and "selfishness" out of the way, they were able to accomplish their glorious mission in God's Plan.