Santa Matt's ramblings

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Showing posts from August, 2010

My Journey to Catholic Mysticism Part 2

August 08, 2010

OK, it has been awhile but it seems there is more to this mystic thing then assembling a new toy for the grand kids. I have read and meditated long on this and I have some observations. My first thoughts were how to achieve my "Dark Night of the Senses". Should I deny all sensual aspects of my life? But then I realized that it is less about denial then changing my perceptions of sensual things. Ignore good food for bland food? No, eat the same but gain an appreciation of where it came from. Think about the person who prepared it. What are their thoughts and feelings as a human being, not just their skill as a cook. Then I thought about how will I know when I have passed through my "Dark Night of the Senses"? Then I realized it is not the destination that was important, but the journey. In an earlier post I talked about my vision of people as spirit guides. I had a vision of me climbing a mountain. God is at the top of the mountain. And as I climbed along the path I

Biography

When I left High School, I attended Michigan Tech. I was studying Electronics and trying to decide what I wanted to do. I had gone there for Engineering but really wanted a more hands on career. While there I met a girl named Monica Bobak and we became close. I left school in the beginning of 1972 to find work. I was tired of school and tired of never having any money. Maybe not my best decision as I had a draft number of 63. I enlisted in June of 1972, before I could get drafted. I enlisted for 4 years to get into the army electronics school I wanted. In march of 1973 Monica and I were married. By September 1973, Monica was pregnant and I was on my way to Germany. Monica joined me there later. We had two children while we were in Germany, James in 74 and Angela in 76. In September of 76 we returned from Germany, I got out of the Army and got a job here in Flint working for Midnight Burglar Alarm. I started there installing alarm systems for $3.50 per hour, can you imagine that? In 82 Pamela was born. I worked for Midnight for 22 years and then they were bought and the new owner did not want me. In the interim I had done pretty much every job in the company and ended up creating and managing the IT department. So at 46 years old I am out of work. Fortunately I had learned to program computers and write software along the way so I got a job working as a programmer for a company that writes accounting software for the alarm and security industry. Best job I ever had. Let me see, down through the years, Angela married Ralph Prince and they are the parents of my three grand children Desdemona, Seraphim and AJ. They all live and work in Lansing. James married Adrienne, they don't have any children yet. They live here in Flint and James works for a company called OTC, writing sowtware. Pam got master's degree, She lives in Davison. She works as afund raiser for the YWCA part time while also working self-employed as a grant writer and artist. She married Zack Bailey and they brought my fourth grand child into the world, Patrick. I am retired now and spend most of my free time writing software for hand held electronics and robots. I'm very active in my faith. I worked for a time at being a free lance photographer as a side job. We added a second story to our house and have remodeled pretty much every room. I have made a workshop in the basement where I build my projects. I have also published a cook book "Santa's Cookbook for Men" published through and available on Amazon. I also work as Santa Claus, not for money, just for charities. I am a Hospice volunteer and do Santa there and in adult group homes, cancer centers, hospitals those kinds of things. I have had training in working with hospice patients, autistic children and wounded soldiers. I belong to the Knights of Columbus and Santa America.