Not too long after Margaret Matthews began working at a hospital in Pittsburgh, rumors of impending layoffs nearly paralyzed her with fear.
It wasn't until a decade later that the layoff actually came. Then her fears of unemployment were confirmed. More than once, Matthews faced empty cupboards.After nearly two years of sending out scores of applications, she found a job working with the disabled. Now the old fears have disappeared as she learned during her unemployment to place "ultimate faith" in God.
"It became a real tight friendship because you're constantly leaning on him. And you're very much aware you're leaning on him. . . . I could feel the warmth. I could feel the love," she said. "You lose your fear."
The way individuals live out their faith at work has gained growing theological attention in recent years in reaction to a secular society that would limit religion to services and private prayers.
Ironically, one of the richest sources of reflection on the spirituality of work is coming from the unemployed, who have been forced by losing their jobs to take a step back and examine the meaning of their earthly vocations.
Where once work defined their lives, many unemployed people find their faith deepening as they turn to God to help them face the trials of unemployment, said Joseph Gosse, author of a booklet titled "Unemployed Workers." The booklet is part of a series of publications on the spirituality of work, developed by the Chicago-based National Center for the Laity.
"It can be a catalyst for deepening our own sense of self-worth and meaning," Gosse said. "We can think again about this question of Jesus: What will it profit us if we gain the whole world and suffer the loss of our undying souls?"
No one is saying unemployment is good. Pope John Paul II has called unemployment "in all cases an evil." The Canadian Catholic bishops told their flock, "Everyone must show particular attentiveness and compassion to the anguish and needs of the unemployed."
But Gosse said that in his interviews with unemployed people, many spoke of a deepened spirituality.
Some reported returning to the faith they grew up with.
"When I felt worthless, I found that my religious values were still there. I found the support I needed in my church," said one man who spent 18 months looking for work.
In his own experience, Gosse remembers the solace he took during busy days of looking for work of just being able to stop in a church in the afternoon and pray.
"You're thrown back on a deeper sense of security, a deeper sense of faith," Gosse said. "You had to somehow realize your work, what you do, didn't comprise all your meaning."
Joseph Belechak, an unemployment counselor in southwestern Pennsylvania, said some people also consider career changes to fields such as social work once they have left the rat race long enough to examine their lives.
"I'm finding more and more people whose attachment to God is becoming much stronger. It seems they've lost that desire to earn megabucks," he said.
A manufacturing manager for 35 years, it was an assignment to put together an outplacement program by his employer that started Belechak working with the jobless and eventually led him to leave his job for one at half the pay assisting the unemployed for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
"I know God directed me into this position," he said.
Many unemployed people do go through stages of anger at God, particularly as their time of joblessness drags on, but those that keep their faith are also the ones who are more likely to retain the self-confidence to get new jobs and to avoid the emotional pitfalls of unemployment, Gosse and Bele-chak say.
Matthews, who is single, is one who testifies to the power of faith.
During her unemployment, Matthews remembers being down to her last meal and having people show up at her door with five or six bags of groceries and people she had never met sending her $100 or $150 when she needed it most.
"For my own spiritual self, I learned ultimate trust in God," Matthews said.
Belechak has some advice for the newly jobless:
"You heard the old adage, `When all else fails, pray.' I tell people: `Don't wait, pray first.' Over and over, I see a lot of spiritual good coming out of unemployment."