There would be new prohibitions on the sale of travel from Manila (14 March and 20 December 1632) at a time when Philip III of Portugal requested the support of the Count of Linhares from the governor of Manila in order to expel the Dutch from Ilha Formosa, insisting at the same time “in the total cut off of communication and trade between China and Manila, in order to avoid the great inconveniences that resulted in the States of the East and West Indies.”
Dear friend, I am writing to you because I have a question that I cannot resolve by myself. I am a practicing Catholic and I am convinced that Christianity must also pay attention to what happens in the life of men and therefore also make an attempt to improve the material conditions of life. But – I must confess – that it seems very strange to me to see men of the Church pour so much energy to take sides on questionable practical problems, including the issue of waste. Yet in recent times there has been much talk of a Church that should be as “spiritual” as possible.
Of course, we all know that family life is not a bed of roses, but one can suffer in them, one can even fail in one’s attempt to build a family unit that brings stability to those involved. I am not among those who moralize towards those who experience failures, despite being well aware of what Catholic doctrine teaches. I understand that sometimes you have to accept the cross of failure and take responsibility for it before God and those directly involved. But the family cannot be reduced to its failure or to a strategy of deviant behavior. What kind of reasoning is this?
In her Story of a Soul, she narrates an incident in the convent laundry of Lisieux where she worked opposite a Sister who would splash her with dirty water while washing the handkerchiefs. She refrained from her inclination to draw back and wipe her face to show the Sister how much this annoyed her. This may seem very small, but the self-will is as well denied and curbed in small things as in great things.
The Franciscan University of Steubenville is offering a 50% Online Tuition Discount through its Emergent Country Scholarship.