Pamela Q. Fernandes's Blog, page 15

Walking the High Line

It’s been a while since I’ve gone anywhere exploring. I’m not sure where all the time has gone. My weekends and weekdays seem chock full of things to do. Add to it, all the language classes I’m taking. Italian and Spanish,

Debunking Vaccine Myths

There are plenty of vaccine myths. Coming from a country where access to healthcare and a lack of education results in lower vaccination rates. It’s rather shocking that on the other side of the pond, the reasons for not vaccinating are a matter of choice.

Vaccine Myths

In NY, I’ve seen every exanthem I’ve never seen in my life including secondary syphilis. While that is an entirely different story, I’m surprised by the anti-vaccination group. I blame millenials, yes I know, people of my own generation who have given in to this. Millenials feel very proud about their brave decision to not vaccinate their kids. And so as NY has now made it mandatory to vaccinate, we debunk common vaccine myths. California has seen over 9000 cases of whopping cough. And while I’d love to see a case, I wouldn’t wish that on my own child or someone else’s.

Vaccines are responsible for autism

The first time autism was linked to vaccination, it was a study published in the Lancet by a British surgeon. He suggested that cases of measles, mumps, rubella were increasing autism in British children.

There were procedural errors identified by peers, financial conflicts of interest were not disclosed, and ethical violations did take place. Andrew Wakefield was stripped of medical license. The Lancet retracted the paper.

Since then many research studies have debunked this myth. Studies have shown that autism occurs even before vaccines. And many have shown that autism occurs in utero.

Vaccines don’t prevent diseases, better hygiene does

Do anti-vaxxers expect us to believe that the number of polio, Hib(Hemophilus influenzae) cases decreased simply because of better hygiene. Co-incidentally, this drop occurred at the same time that vaccines were introduced. In 1990, Hib disease virtually disappeared in children with routine Hib vaccination. From an estimated 20,000 cases a year to 1,419 cases in 1993. Surely, this can’t be a coincidence.

There are other examples too. Japan cut back the use of pertussis vaccine and found a dramatic jump in the number of cases. A drop in vaccination rates from 70% to 40% led to an increase in pertussis from 393 cases and 0 deaths in 1974 to 13,000 cases and 41 deaths in 1979. It’s not all about hygiene, baby.

Newborn immune systems are too fragile for vaccines

Newborns have a lot of antibodies. Based on the number of antibodies alone present in their blood, a baby theoretically could react to around 10,000 vaccines. However, all 14 scheduled vaccines are never given at once. If they were, it would still use up slightly more than 0.1% of a baby’s immune capacity. In reality, babies are exposed to countless bacteria and viruses every day. Their cells are constantly replenished.

Kids are exposed to fewer immunologic components than children in past decades.

Vaccines cause side effects

This vaccine myth is widespread. One specific mention about side effects of vaccines is that we don’t even know many of it’s long term side-effects. Let me say that most adverse events are minor and temporary. A sore arm or mild fever can be handled with paracetamol.

One of the more popular vaccine myths is that DTP vaccine causes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). An analysis of the benefit and risk of DTP immunization shows that if there was no immunization in the US, pertussis cases could increase 71-fold and deaths would rise four-fold.  So if there’s one adverse event, it doesn’t justify not vaccinating the millions of others.

Natural immunity is better than vaccine-acquired immunity

Getting a disease does result in a stronger immunity to the disease than a vaccination. However, you could face death first. If you wanted to acquire immunity to measles, by contracting the disease, you have a 1 in 500 chance of dying from your symptoms. However, the number of people who had a severe allergic reaction from an MMR vaccine, is less than one-in-one million.

Vaccine related diseases have been eliminated from my country so there’s no need for vaccination

While it’s true that many countries have all but eliminated many diseases, the borders of the world are slowly disappearing. People travel and bring pathogens. These diseases causes epidemics in other parts of the world and can come to your location.

Simultaneously, without vaccinations, a single case can quickly become hundreds and thousand of cases as seen in NYC’s recent measles outbreak. Steven Soderbergh’s movie Contagion springs to mind. Now, most of you know I’m not a movie person but if I recommend something, it’s because it won’t be a waste of your 90 minutes. If you want to see how a pandemic occurs and how hard it is to track patient zero or the index case, watch this film.

Vaccines contain toxins

Another one of the popular vaccine myths is that vaccines have toxins. The use of formaldehyde, mercury or aluminum in vaccines has people worried. And for good reason. These chemicals are toxic to the human body. However, vaccines contain trace amounts of these chemicals.

The FDA and the CDC say that the human body makes more formaldehyde by our own metabolic systems. There’s no scientific evidence mercury or aluminum at such low levels in vaccines are harmful.

Vaccines can cause the disease it’s trying to prevent

There is only one recorded case in which a vaccine caused the disease it was trying to prevent. This was the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), a live vaccine, which is no longer used in the U.S. Vaccines have been in safe use for decades and follow strict Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. In fact, all refrigerators that store vaccines have centralized thermometers. If the temperature dips below 36 or rises beyond 46 degrees, an alarm gets activated. This alerts the DOH and they hold all vaccine deliveries to the center until they’ve inspected and the issue is resolved.

Vaccines are one of the biggest discoveries of modern medicine. Millions of people have died from measles, smallpox, whooping cough, or rubella, to name just a few. Today they are completely preventable with a shot.

Let’s not forget how many deaths and diseases vaccines have prevented. Also, let’s not put other people at risk, even if we may be willing to risk our own. I’m surprised that anti-vaccination groups have been given such free reign on public platforms. It’s strange that social media will take you down for making a “wrong” political statement but allows people who are risking the health of millions to have such a huge platform without much censure.

We need to be educating people more and talking to them to debunk their vaccine myths, lest we put our patients and ourselves at risk for something this is so easily preventable.

What’s your take?

Have your say. Tell me what do you say about about it? How do you handle the anti-vaxxers? I’d love to add your answer to my rebuttal the next time I meet a mom who’s FB group said she shouldn’t vaccinate!!!! In the meantime, check out my other posts.

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PRE-ORDER: IN OTHER WORDS

Yay! You can now pre-order In Other Words. I’ve been behind on the edits. If you’re following my Twitter feed, you know I was on FINAL DRAFT VERSION 2. And simultaneously pulling out my hair because reading it with fresh eyes help me catch so many errors. The drafts are happening and we should be able to be ready by release day.

PRE-ORDER IN OTHER WORDS

You can pre-order the book on Amazon. If you want to pre-order In Other Words at other retailers, you can do so here! I’m not going to be KDP select with this series. So we’re going wide. This book will be available on all websites with as many retailers. You don’t need to have an Amazon account to get my books.

Release Day

There’s always excitement and fear about release day. I’m still tensed about the edits, the internal formatting, and the blurb. We’re working on the trailer, the bookmarks, and the launch day. I’ve done this 13 times already but every time a new book comes out it feels like day 1.

I’ve started hearing from beta reviewers and it’s great to hear good feedback. However, with each book I still have that ants in my pants feeling.

My Interview on Frontmatter Podcast

When Len and I exchanged emails, I was quite surprised with how organized he was. What surprised me even more was that Len was okay with me covering Christian non-fiction. He hadn’t covered the subject before and was game to do it.

Len Epp

Len Epp is the co-founder of Leanpub Publishing.

He was very direct when he asked me about my faith. And other subjects of Christianity even though we have different Christian backgrounds. Len also covered Middle East fiction which many people usually shy away from. So I was super happy that he he covered my books being as diverse as they are.

If you want to listen to the podcast you can just hop over to Leanpub’s page. A transcript has been printed for those who cannot tolerate my voice.

FRONTMATTER PODCAST

Frontmatter podcast has covered some really fantastic guests. Len himself has been featured by Reedsy and Medium. We had quite a few laughs over my many goof-ups as a writer.

We talked about branding, author platform, pricing and self publishing. I enjoyed talking to Len, as you can tell. And even though this week has not been the best, when I saw Len’s email that the podcast was out, it brightened my day.

They even made the podcast their featured episode. How cool is that? I couldn’t wait to share it online and posted it on facebook and twitter.

I hope you enjoy listening to it. If you do or don’t write back and let me know why. You can subscribe to the Frontmatter podcast here.

A special shout out to Len for allowing me to appear on the FRONTMATTER podcast.

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55 Contemplative Prayer By St. Teresa of Avila

To have courage for whatever comes in life – everything lies in that.

St. Teresa of Avila

Who is Charles Johnston?

Charles Johnston is a father and husband in Phoenix, Arizona. His conversion journey has taken years, as he felt God pulling him toward His Church but he resisted until he couldn’t take it anymore. He gave in and fell in love with His Church.  He blogs for ‘Now that I’m catholic.wordpress.com’

In this episode, Charles tells us about popular saint, St. Teresa of Avila.
He explains:

-St Teresa of Avila and her life as a contemplative
-Her work and book “Interior Castle’
-Her work for the reformation of the Carmelite Order-How we can make time and choose a place for prayer

St Teresa of Avila







St. Teresa of Avila and the Interior Castle

It’s amazing how things fell into place. That this podcast happened after the contemplative prayer one was divine orchestration. The unexpected podcast on contemplative prayer came from a podcast on wisdom. I planned St. Teresa of Avila last December 2018. And she is the go to saint on contemplative prayer.

Her work title the Interior Castle is one of the best on the subject. I like that Charles throws down the gauntlet and says it’s important to get started reading it. It doesn’t matter where you are on your spiritual journey. We’re never going to be holier or better at reading it. So go on, start reading.

Contemplative Prayer

Our previous podcast has covered this extensively thanks to Connie Rossini. Charles warns us against too much self-emptying. He explains the various forms of prayer and how at the end the focus has to be on Jesus. In the end, we have to center ourselves on Jesus. And that’s so important.

Personally, it’s hard when often I want to be star, direct and produce my show… my life… ego drama. When it’s all about letting God direct and produce this show and telling me how to act…theo drama.

I’ve realized that when I place myself at the center of my universe I’m easily offended or hurt by so many things. I came across this beautiful litany when I was going through a really hard time this week. And I’m sharing it here.

Litany of Humility

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be chosen and I set aside,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be praised and I go unnoticed,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be preferred to me in everything,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

This litany has helped me so much over the last week. Try praying it or simply use it for reflection. St Teresa of Avila, a doctor of the church used contemplation on her journey to holiness. I’m new to this and would love to hear from those who’ve already started it.

ENJOYED THIS PODCAST?

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Check out our podcasts on St Augustine and Mother Teresa. If you liked this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it. If there is a particular saint that you would like to hear about us, tell us and we’ll add him or her to our future episodes.

We are on iheartradio, Stitcher, Itunes, and tunein.com.We’d love to hear from you. If you hear us on Itunes, please rate and review us.

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Pics from the US Open Tennis 2019

It was just a suggestion by my mentor. Since I had no plans for Labor day, he recommended watching tennis at Flushing Meadows. I’ve never been living in New York while the US open was going on. This year I was lucky enough to be here.

I’m a big fan of Rafael Nadal. And I didn’t think I’d ever watch him in person. I didn’t think I’d watch him this year. At midnight I just logged on the US open site to see the tickets and found them without having to fork over a fortune. They use ticketmaster, which is also used for Broadway shows. The system is computerized and an algorithm decides the price based on the number of tickets available. The Arthur Ashe stadium has about 23000 seats.

So I bought the ticket at 1 in the morning. All day long it was raining. I even wondered if the match would be canceled. However, Arthur Ashe has a retractable roof. So that being said I was off to Flushing Meadows to watch tennis.

Getting There

It’s really an easy subway ride. For me I took the G and then changed to the 7 train. The 7 train takes you right upto Mets-Willets point. Once you get out, the wooden ramp takes you all the way inside to the main Park of Flushing meadows. They send tickets to your phone. At the gate, you have to scan your barcode and enter. As you can see the lines are super long.

Inside the Tennis Arena

The place inside is bustling with people. You have the park with the fountain and the globe. There’s a box office where you can buy tickets. There’s plenty of food and drink. There are screens everywhere for you to follow the scores. You can watch the matches outside. There’s plenty of place for people to sit. Some of the news commentators have booths here. If you want to be featured on TV you gotta stand behind them. The famous globe also has a beautiful fountain. The park housing the globe also connects to the Queen’s Botanical Garden. I was too excited and had no interest in the garden at this point.

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Arthur Ashe Stadium

I’d say it helps to be early. There are few lines for food and drink. Nevertheless, you can find your seat in peace and then settle in. Restrooms for each section are right outside the entrance so it’s very convenient. That said, Arthur Ashe stadium is designed so well. In fact, no matter where you sit or how far you are from the center, you can see the players, identify them and see the ball and lines.

Game Time

Nothing rivals being inside the Arthur Ashe stadium and watching the players. Once the announcements were made, you can palpate the exhilaration among the crowd. It’s just fantastic. The players warming up and then from the very first ball, it’s a roller coaster ride. Your heart races and rests with each rally.

Rafael Nadal

The man certainly knows how to put on a show. Looking much leaner, Rafa is fast. Lightning fast. He mixes it up, plays balls that hug the lines and is very focused on each point. The guy is nothing but persistent. I’m not very vocal but I found myself screaming every time he made an impossible shot.

The next morning I’d lost my voice. And for good reason. Rafael Nadal makes every cent spent worth it. In his post match interview, he said, his own body is suffering for what he puts himself through but for the spectators he does it. And I can see why. Having 20,000 people root for you; it’s an indescribable feeling.

Of course, once the tennis match started, I forgot all about the pictures. I took a couple of videos and enjoyed the game. I got a couple of pictures of myself but there was so much to do that I barely had the time.

2019 US OPEN

I had a wonderful time watching tennis at Flushing Meadows. Given the chance, I’d definitely go back again. It’s worth the experience.

The reason I was at the US Open was just to de-stress. It’s been a difficult few months, with little rest. I was close to burning out. I’m still working on edits for In Other Words. My women’s fiction is out there in the trenches. I have to start work on Book 3 for Touchpoint Press. Phew! That’s apart from all the medical writing and volunteering. Taking a day off meant just letting myself breathe and my brain rest. I’m so glad I did! (Did I mention Rafa taking off his shirt after the match?)

54 What is Contemplative Prayer?

Contemplative prayer is where God works silently in your heart.

Connie Rossini

Who is Connie Rossini?



Connie Rossini

Connie Rossini helps whole families grow in intimacy with Christ. She is the author of The Q & A Guide to Mental Prayer and 4 other books on Catholic spirituality and parenting. She is also the co-author of The Contemplative Rosary. In her Facebook group Authentic Contemplative Prayer, nearly 12,000 members discuss the spiritual life, where, the atmosphere is orthodox and charitable. You can find her at her blog: contemplativehomeschool.com.

In this episode, I talk to Connie Rossini about contemplative prayer. She talks about:
-What is contemplation?
-How does it differ from meditation?
-What are some ways we can prepare for contemplative prayer?
-What are the fruits of this? How does this help our personal life and spiritual life?

What is contemplative prayer?







It’s all in the prep

I wrote to Connie right as summer was at it’s peak and everyone was busy getting ready for school. I read Connie’s post on contemplation before. It was just after we recorded our 53rd episode on contemplation with Eric Johnston. When he mentioned it during our podcast, I just knew we had to cover it.

Connie was super quick after I reached out to her on Twitter. We discussed the podcast and soon we had a date. Despite the vacation, she was happy to record. We also have Carmelite priests in the family so we had something in common. Her brother is a Carmelite priest.

I am really surprised by everything Connie said about contemplative prayer. My own understanding of this has been very skewed.

Something Connie said struck me.

“Preparation is the only thing that we can do.”

Connie Rossini

That’s right. We can prepare, be holy and wait. It’s God who does the rest. Contemplative prayer is God’s grace. He comes to us and fills us with His presence. There is no way you can practice it or do stuff to make it happen. It comes when God says we’re ready. We’re ready as long as we do God’s will in that moment of time.

Contemplative prayer takes time

This really was shocking. Connie says this form of prayer takes time to develop. As long as fifteen years. I say we might as well start somewhere. So don’t be afraid. I love the meditative aspects of prayer. Often, I’m just moved to silence, because words can’t described what I feel during my very short prayer time. If I’m at adoration, I find, I cannot verbalize anything at all. Connie addresses all these moments and the reasons why it takes time in this episode. I’m so grateful that she shared her own personal experience with us. It was wonderful to hear her talk about her own personal experience and I encourage you, if you’re keen on starting this form of prayer to take a look at her books.

ENJOYED THIS PODCAST?

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Check out our podcasts on  Adoration and Mother Teresa. If you liked this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it. Additionally, if there is a particular saint that you would like to hear about us, tell us and we’ll add him or her to our future episodes. Also, write to our guests and let them know what you think.

We are on iheartradio, Stitcher, Itunes, and tunein.com.We’d love to hear from you. If you hear us on Itunes, please rate and review us.

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Finalist at American Book Fiction Awards

I’m so happy to announce that Painting Kuwait Violet is a finalist at the American Book Fiction Awards. Yay!!!!

At first I have to admit, I was bummed out for not winning. My publisher was kind enough to put the finalist badge on my book cover and we updated the Amazon Book Bio. Authors from Solstice Publishing were also happy and so was my editor John De Boer, to whom I owe many thanks. I’ve said this in every interview, this book wouldn’t have been so fine without him. Thank you John.

Pics from Brooklyn Museum

I’ve been writing almost every weekend. The Brooklyn Museum was on my list of places to see. However, last Sunday, there was the added bonus of the Brooklyn Symphony performing. And so I decided to get up early(gahhhh) go for mass and head off to the museum. It’s a twenty minute walk for me anyway skirting the perimeter of Prospect Park.

The museum opens at 11. Yup. Not ten. So I was forty minutes early. And I managed to read a book. I was reading, “The Joy of Less.” And before I knew it we were ushered inside. At present, the Pierre Cardin exhibition is on display. I’m not all into fashion.

The main works that I wanted to focus on was paintings and Egyptian art. There is no entrance fee. You can make a donation unless you’re here for an assigned exhibition in which case you have to pay 16$. Overall, the place isn’t as crowded and so you can take your time to read the descriptions and study each piece of work.

Woodcut, etching and more

I guess the Museum is trying to generate interest in the art of woodcutting, etching and some of the older styles of art. There’s an entire room dedicated to teaching how they’re done. On the first floor, the exhibits are mostly black and white. I had no idea that many of these paintings were etched or woodcut. After I saw the videos, I backtracked through some of the work. Why? Because these techniques are four steps long. I cannot believe the artistic vision it requires to create these images though them. It would take a truly gifted eye to do them. Yet, many acclaimed artists including (my favorite) Corot used them.

RembrandtPicasso

There are a number of early etchings from famous artists like Picasso on display to demonstrate the techniques.

Sculptures

There are a few Sculptures here including Giovanni della Robbia’s relief depicting the Resurrection of Jesus. There’s a bench in front of this sculpture. And you’ll see why. Every piece of the sculpture represents something. Even the three shadowy figures representing the three Mary’s, Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome, and Mary the mother.

Robbia’s Resurrection of Christ



European Art



Pinning of the hat by RenoirMonet’s Houses of Parliament

While not as extensive at the Collection at MoMa, there are a few noteworthy paintings here, Degas, Renoir, Monet, Manet and Picasso. What’s surprising, is the influence of religion on art. There are so many pieces of work based on the Madonna and the child Jesus. Every artistic perspective is different.

ManetMonet’s Islet of Port Villez

In addition, there were a few Monets’ here. And bar one, I don’t get the appeal for them. Neither do I get Picasso. The only ones I liked were the Islets at Port Villez and the Houses of Parliament. I guess it’s because when I was taught art in convent school, light was the first thing taught to us. If nothing else, light is the only thing I understand about art. So most paintings where the play of light is expressed tends to appeal to me. And then there’s abstract art. I just don’t get it.

The Gray woman by Pablo Picasso



Forces of Nature



James Hamilton’s Destruction of Pompeii

There is a beautiful series of paintings based on the power of nature. I guess these are some of the most beautiful oils on canvas, all donated to the Museum. These paintings are huge. I had to stand nearly 15 feet away to get a picture. What’s astonishing, is that in European art, there are a number of Puerto Rican paintings. I’m not sure why, but they’re here.

Mesdag’s In Danger



Brooklyn Bridge

I remember mentioning to someone about Emily Roebling and how she supervised the finishing of the Brooklyn Bridge when her husband Washington was sick. She was the first to cross the bridge in 1883. Charles Duran paints their portraits with the Brooklyn Bridge in the backdrop for Washington.

Egyptian Art at the Brooklyn Museum

I believe the Brooklyn Museum has one of the largest collections of Egyptian Art this side of the coast. Some of the reliefs, shabty’s and papyrus are from and studied by Charles Wilbour, an American Egyptologist.

I’m honestly quite humbled. Some of these things date back to 2500 BC. Our lives are just like wisps of smoke in comparison. The ceramics, utensils and stones have survived so long. They’ve seen the world turn and change. It’s so sobering to watch these pieces and feel a bit misplaced in the grander scheme of things.

The hall is divided into prehistoric and early dynastic periods, mid and then the later dynastic periods. You can see how Egyptian life culture has changed and been influenced by its different rulers. The older civilization though seems as advanced as the Incas and Greeks. It truly is remarkable what a great civilization this once was.

Mummy Section

Four mummies are placed in a special section. It’s very dark here and can be quite scary. It was so dark, I couldn’t even read the descriptions. They house the preserved human remains of Lady Gautseshenu, Hor, Thothirdes and a man of the Roman period. CT scans and Xrays show them with their brains but without their internal organs. The organs were usually removed and placed into canopic jars. This long papyrus which contained prayers was inserted into every shabty.

Pottery Manufacture

Faience is actually a misnomer. It’s an Italian tradition of ceramic work but has somehow become associated with Egyptology. However, it’s amazing that during such an ancient time, these brilliant colors and designs of pottery existed. They used two principal materials, alluvial soil from the Nile river and soft desert shale called mari. Silt contained iron oxides and mari has calcium carbonate which fire to a buff color.

It’s just proof of how advanced the Egyptian civilization once was. If you look at all the jewelry, art and sculpture, the level of sophistication for such an ancient time period is shocking. Even the fact that they played chess like games and had furniture like ours. Of course, some of the furniture did look like what my grandmother kept but still 2500 BC and now. Not much has changed and yet, everything has changed.

Brooklyn Symphony Trio

By two in the afternoon, I was tired. So I went to the court and waited for the music. Here’s the sheet. Two bassoonists and a pianist played classical pieces. Sarah McKittrick Sethi, Yuki Katayama and John Russo formed the trio. Here’s some of it.

If you’re going to the Brooklyn Museum, carry something warm. It’s freezing inside there. I had a sweater and still thought it wasn’t enough. I didn’t try the cafeteria but it was well stocked and had quite a few options. By four thirty I was exhausted and made my way home. I missed the entrance for the subway and decided to walk back instead.

Other Intriguing Art

Overall, the Brooklyn Museum a great place to visit. I like the earthy art and that’s what most of my pictures are about. Take your time at the Museum. I doubt you can pair it with Prospect Park and the Botanical Gardens. You wouldn’t do either justice.

Francisco Oller’s Hacienda La FortunaHobbema’s Hamlet in the woodLhermitte’s Old Harvester’s meal

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53 Growing in Wisdom

Wisdom is a gift. It is given to us freely by God. We do not need to earn it.

Eric Johnston on Wisdom

Who is Eric Johnston?



Eric Johnston

Eric M. Johnston is a husband of father of seven in Newark, New Jersey.  He teaches theology to undergraduate theologians at Seton Hall University and writes reflections at professorjohnston.com.  He is a student of Thomas Aquinas’s theology of grace and use of Scripture.

In this episode, I talk to Eric Johnston about growing in widsom. He talks about:
-What are sanctifying and charismatic gifts?
-What is the gift of wisdom? 
-How is it different from knowledge and discernment?
-How do we develop this gift? 
-What actions can we take to grow in wisdom?

How to grow in wisdom?







Ask God

I wrote to a number of people to talk about wisdom for this month’s episode and because it’s such a difficult topic, couldn’t find anyone. I sent a quick email to Eric and he replied. He was on a holiday in Rhode Island and said, he’ll take a quick break from the beach and we can record. I’m so grateful to Eric because all his knowledge of theology did help me understand wisdom.

One of the things that struck me is when he says You can’t earn a gift. They’re gifts because thy’re given freely to us. Often, when I’ve made a mistake, as we often do, making the wrong choices, the wrong words, so on, I often say Lord, if only you’d made me wise. Not knowing that God has given us His Holy Spirit to rely on.

Contemplation and Wisdom

I loved this advice from Eric about how we can grow in wisdom by contemplating on God. And what is contemplation? The many ways of looking at God and this is something that struck a chord so deep, that I’ve added Contemplation to our episode list.

He also says that you need to grow all the gifts of the spirit for any one to develop. And that sin slowly chips away at our spirit. This is one of the key things Eric stresses about that sin has consequences and they’re not from a punishing God, but rather a natural consequence of our actions.

ENJOYED THIS PODCAST?

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Check out our podcasts on  Fellowship and Mother Teresa. If you liked this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it. Additionally, if there is a particular saint that you would like to hear about us, tell us and we’ll add him or her to our future episodes. Also, write to our guests and let them know what you think.

We are on iheartradio, Stitcher, Itunes, and tunein.com.We’d love to hear from you. If you hear us on Itunes, please rate and review us.

The post 53 Growing in Wisdom appeared first on PAMELA Q. FERNANDES.