Patron Saint of Job Seekers

"If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or a spiritual person, he should recognize that what I am writing to you is a commandment of the Lord."
-1 Corinthians 14:37

Naturally, the context of the quote above is important. Basically, it says we should humbly accept the gifts God gives to us and to others. I agree with this, of course. However, even though it is not included in the Biblical reading for today, it's still beneficial to pray to God for what we want, enlarging our capacity for whatever he has in store for us.

Now I have a job teaching where I can benefit a number of young people each year, students that have a lot of problems and need the kind of special attention I can provide in a smaller setting. I am certainly getting to use some of my gifts, but not a lot of my gifts. There's an opportunity to use even more of my gifts that I want to pursue and I feel this is the year to ask St. Cajetan to help me again.

This is a special year because the memorial of St. Cajetan, the patron saint of job seekers, falls on a Sunday. Four years ago, when I was looking for a job closer to our families in Pittsburgh, I began to pray to St. Cajetan after looking for a year without success. The school district I work for now actually turned me down for a Social Studies position the year before when I was trying to win the job on my own, without prayers or intercessions. Ironically, the day of his memorial, August 7, I got a call to come in the next day for an interview, but I couldn't because Nancy was having her C-section that day, so they asked if I could come in now. I jumped into my suit, hopped into my car, and basically won the job that day. When I came back for the second interview, they had the contract ready and I signed it on the spot.

St. Cajetan may have been looking out for me the whole time because there were other jobs, like the Social Studies position, that I thought I wanted that would have put me back on step 1 of the salary schedule. This job required two and preferred three of my certifications, which allowed them to keep me at step 7 of the salary schedule, even though I still had to take a pay cut paying for health insurance. It was a good long-term decision that put us closer to family.

Likewise, the same may be true this year. There have been a couple opportunities that I have had to keep quiet on, praying for the job myself, but open to the idea that if I didn't get it, something better would be in store eventually. Since I don't have to keep quiet about this one, and since specific goals lead to better results, perhaps specific prayers do too, enlarging our specific capacities for what God intends. So even though I pray for all of you in a general sense (unless you had a specific prayer request) and you likely pray for me in a general sense, I am asking you to pray for me in connection with this new job opportunity, through the intercession of St. Cajetan if you are comfortable with that, or however you are most comfortable praying. My first interview for Director of Educational Technology is this Tuesday at 2:30 PM EST. God bless you.