Here's the last half of my 2023! Ah I think this year is the best ever in terms of spiritual growth. Much better than in 2010. Hehe. As a lukewarm cradle Catholic, that was my first "spiritual awakening" or a partial return to God. 2023 was like a level up from that. Read more of the latter in the first part of this post.

Last year I somehow realized life is a series of spiritual growth (or sanctification) too. Every time we experience hardships in life, we can grow more in faith or fall further from grace. It's our choice, we are the ones who decide on our final destination.

Ehermmm. Anyway I used to do yearly summaries like this before the pandemic. The last I wrote was my 2020 review and then I didn't feel like writing after that. Haha. So let's continue with the new and surprising life changing things that made my 2023 amazing!

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From Busy to Not So Busy

July 2023

Okay, I got really busy learning Spanish in July. Oh imagine that, the whole month I was formally learning a foreign language. I enjoyed every minute of it. ❤️ Thank you Lord.

The best thing I did this month was speaking in Español a lot! O la felicidad. (Oh happiness.) Even if it was scripted, I enjoyed making my personal presentation video for our final exam. We also did a video per group.

_{Last day of class. 😭}

Aside from that, July was the month doctors proved how growing older will really bring out certain medical conditions. Haha. Well since this is part of life I'll just keep living and continue changing for the better. 😊

On another note, because I still wasn't able to get myself some holy water, I decided to have some virgin coconut oil blessed instead. 😁 Oh yeah, finally something holy to drink for the first time!

If you ask me what's the effect... 🤔 Well I can't really say because there was no physical change whatsoever afaik. Most likely it added to why I do the things I do now. (I mean, look at the next months!)

Workwise I was able to create 400 packs of custom bulk temporary tattoos for a major client! Omg, that's 2,800 pcs with manual die cut! 😅

First time I ever did something like this for an event. Wow! Thank you Lord! Working while studying was really tough but I finished everything in time! 💪

Near the end of July I attended my first recollection after so many years! Woohooo! I found out from our local church that Fr. Chris Alar would visit the Philippines to do a talk on the Divine Mercy.

As previously mentioned I've been learning a lot from priests and various Catholic content creators on YouTube since Lent 2023. One of the talks I was watching at the time was from him. Coincidentally he came here to do a talk/recollection! Wow right? My newly religious but still kinda colonial minded self was thrilled to attend. 😂

Too bad I still haven't been able to write about that event. So here's a photo from the recollection for the meantime.

Language class eventually ended on July 31. 😭 We watched everyone's group video presentations and celebrated with food. I learned a lot in 25 days but it's not enough. 😭 Our graduation was scheduled at a much later date because the certificates weren't ready yet.

August 2023

This is the month I started listening to St. Faustina's Diary. Lol I never even knew about her until the recollection. I have never really checked on any saints in particular in my entire life. Well I did enjoy reading about a book with summaries of the lives of saints as a kid but that was it.

_{I found this in my things, forgot how I got it. Probably during the recollection? 🤔😅 Among other giveaways from the event.}

So I found a priest who did daily reading + commentary on St. Faustina's writings. Oh la la, this is how I've been learning a lot from everything Jesus taught her.

Because I had more time after my language class ended I then started writing religious/catechetical content. Why not when I get so inspired from everything I've been learning online. Too bad I don't get to finish each one immediately. Haha. And so I just publish whichever whenever I could. (If you noticed.)

But wait, there's more! The most important thing I learned this month was this: what Jesus meant when he said to forgive others 70 x 7 times. Read it here, including my replies to ahmadmangazap's comment.

And one more thing, I started doing the no meat Fridays again. Oh boy, my religious lifestyle keeps on "growing" huh?

The -Ber Months...

September 2023

Eventually I checked on more saints like St. Therese of Lisieux. Why? Read more about it here.

And what else... Well, first highlight of the month is what I learned which I posted in another social media site:

Yep, I have an upcoming post about this so stay tuned and follow me. Haha. I still have several posts I haven't finished up to now! So much inspiration from the things I'm learning that I had to stop myself from writing new ones.

Second highlight... well just read the first link in the December part below. In short, I realized how my mindset was really changing. Haha. Glory to God and thank you Mama Mary, I feel like a new person already.

Best thing I learned in September was the three things all saints have in common. Of course I wrote it all in one post published in October. Find it below. 😜

October 2023

Finally I was able to publish several things and topics from everything I've learned so far! Like, who would have thought I would be writing about these topics?

These are the "secrets" that lukewarm Christians and the irreligious have no idea about! For real I never knew these things before because nobody in my family, friends or work colleagues have ever shared such ideas.

• My Thoughts After Watching Funny Christian Vids on YouTube 😆
• Catholicism, Non-Catholics and How We Can Avoid Going to Hell
• Angels vs. Demons and Purgatory vs. Heaven
• The Devil Rejoices Whenever People Do Not Confess To Priests (or Pastors for other Christian denominations)

But of course despite the things I've learned, this was when I began to realize I'm still so far from being a saint. Need to pulverize all my remaining sinful behaviors first! Bad habits die hard without Jesus. Like seriously, I have a long way to go. I don't even know how to evangelize in person. Probably not for me. 😂

It was also near the end of the month when I finally started to read the Bible again. Oh my. Haha. I rarely opened what I bought years ago and then suddenly I felt like reading the New Testament.

I mean, really, say hello to the new me! 😂 I keep surprising myself every time I become a better Christian than I used to be.

November 2023

Once this month came around I realized I was enjoying life as the new me. It's a pretty weird feeling sometimes when I think and compare me with my old self. But there's a different kind of enjoyment too.

Also, more of the things I wrote finally got finished. Ah yes. Read all about 'em here:

• Are You a Lukewarm, Hot or Cold Catholic / Christian? (1 of 3)
• Beware of Spiritual Pride & Learn What to Do With it (2 of 3)
• How to be an Ultimate Human Being (3 of 3)
• How A Blasphemous Christian Became a Champion of the Catholics since 1947!

As you can see I started getting deeper into history because of the religious things I was watching. Whoa. Yes folks, those two are related. Haha.

December 2023

Because I wanna take note of the personal changes that happened to me, I wrote this: Top 5 Mindset Changes When You Stop Being a Lukewarm Catholic At least so you will also have an idea what could happen to you once you return back to God. 😊

This month everything started getting quite different though. Perhaps I can say, the highs of my spiritual renewal finally died down. Maybe this is the next stage, I dunno. Haha.

The most shocking discovery of the month is: NOT ALL BIBLES ARE THE SAME.

_{A Catholic Bible | image source}

Oh come on! Right? Like, how and why??? I found out Protestant bibles are different from Catholic ones. WTF? 👀 I never knew. Never, until the thought just popped up in my head after everything I've been watching and reading. Dang.

After a quick online search, turns out I've really been reading from Protestant bibles since I was a young. 😆 What the effin'... I dunno what else to say! 😂

I mean, are you aware of Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur?!? Who in the what mind would even know such things, except perhaps devout Catholics! Huh??? 👀 My terribly lukewarm Christian upbringing is really so obvious now huh. 😅

Anyway the best parts of the month are learning about the following:

• Holy Days of Obligations in the Philippines
• Plenary indulgence
  Which eventually caused me to church hop just to meet the requirements. 😆 No one's fault but my own.
• History and religion are really intertwined! Yeah I checked and behold more articles from me. Haha.
  • "Secret" European History, Religion and the Effects of Colonialization
  • The 20th Century and The People's Call to Bring Back the Old Ways
  • Does Learning World History and Religion Lead People to God?

Eventually, my pet peeve with colonial mentality disrupted the fun of watching movies. I mean, there are so many wonderful films this Christmas season. The Metro Manila Film Festival was the only thing I was looking forward to that wasn't quite Catholic but it just disappointed me. Why? Read my rant.

Sad really. My humanity is still raging against me. Haha. Or maybe it's the effect of praying 4 sets of rosaries (20 decades). Shocking? 😆 Yes folks, I started doing this before Christmas. I will write more about it soon. For the meantime I will still continue doing it and working on improving myself everyday.

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And that's it folks! That's the last half of my 2023 in a nutshell. What do you think? Have you also experienced a major spiritual renewal? I wonder what yours would be like if and when you return to God if you haven't yet. 😁

XOXO,
@artgirl