This has to be one of the worst times in US history to be searching for a job. I am not trying to be overdramatic when I say that, however, trying to find work in this economy has been rough! Everyone I speak to says the same thing and feels for me as I have been searching for a new job. It’s been four months since I have worked a full-time job, however, job searching has kept me pretty busy. If you have ever sought out work before, you know that finding a job is a full-time job in and of itself.
With that being said, I think things are starting to loosen up and there might be some light at the end of the tunnel – I have some interviews scheduled.
A few weeks ago, my wife suggested that we pray a novena regarding my unemployment. She said this because she knows I need to find something soon. After searching for a novena online, I found the Novena for Work to Saint Josemaria Escriva, Founder of Opus Dei. For nine days, we prayed this novena each night during our family prayer time. We also asked family members and some close friends to pray this novena with us. On Monday, we prayed the last day and on Tuesday I started to get some good leads. Please pray that one of these leads will bring an end to my unemployment and a steady income to support our family.
Below are nine quotes from the novena that I found to the most impactful and helpful in my prayer –
I. “Your ordinary contact with God takes place where your fellow men, your yearnings, your work and your affections are. There you have your daily encounter with Christ. Is it in the midst of the most material things of the earth that we must sanctify ourselves, serving God and all mankind.”
II. “Let me stress this point: it is in the simplicity of your ordinary work, in the monotonous details of each day, that you have to find the secret, which is hidden from so many, of something great and new: Love.”
III. “When you bring order into your life your time will multiply, and then you will be able to give God more glory by working more in his service.”
IV. “It is no good offering to God something that is less perfect than our poor human limitations permit. The work that we offer must be without blemish and it must be done as carefully as possible, even in its smallest details, for God will not accept shoddy workmanship. ‘Thou shalt not offer anything that is faulty,’ Holy Scripture admonishes us (Lev. 22:20), ‘because it would not be worthy of him.’ For that reason, the work of each one of us, the activities that take up our time and energy, must be an offering worthy of our Creator. It must be operatio Dei, a work of God that is done for God: in short, a task that is complete and faultless.”
V. “You really do need to make an effort and put your shoulder to the wheel. For all that, you should put your professional interests in their place: they are only means to an end; they can never be regarded – in any way – as if they were the basic thing.”
VII. “I beg you, don’t ever lose the supernatural point of view. Correct your intention as the course of a ship is corrected on the high seas: by looking at the star, by looking at Mary. Then you will always be sure of reaching harbor.”
VII. “By doing your daily work well and responsibly, not only will you be supporting yourselves financially, but you will be contributing directly to the development of society. You will be relieving the burdens of others and supporting local and international welfare projects for less privileged individuals and countries.”
VIII. “When you have finished your work, do your brother’s, helping him, for Christ’s sake, so tactfully and so naturally that no one – not even he – will realise that you are doing more than what in justice you ought. This, indeed, is virtue befitting a son of God.”
IX. “Professional work is also an apostolate, an opportunity to give ourselves to others, to reveal Christ to them and lead them to God the Father.”
Saint Josemaria Escriva…Pray for Us
