May 1, 2022 - "Saint Joseph the Worker"

Today we would normally celebrate Saint Joseph the Worker.  But since today is the Third Sunday of Easter, Saint Joseph the Worker is omitted.  But I am going to write about this Feast Day just the same! “May Day” has long been dedicated to labor and to working men and women in Communist countries.  In response to this and to foster a deeper devotion to Saint Joseph, Pope Pius XII instituted this feast in 1955.  The Holy Father hoped that by doing this he would accentuate the dignity of labor and bring a spiritual dimension to labor unions.  It is appropriate that Saint Joseph, a working man who became the foster-father of Christ and patron of the universal Church, should be honored in this capacity on this day.
 
The Liturgy often teaches us what we should believe.  This is certainly true for the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.  Both the texts for the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours on the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker provide great instruction on the significance of human labor seen in the light of faith.  The Collect (or Opening Prayer) states that God, the creator and ruler of the universe, has called men and women of every age to develop and use their talents for the good of others.  The Office of Readings, taken from the document of the Second Vatican Council on the Church in the modern world, develops this idea.  In every type of labor we are obeying the command of God given in Genesis 2:15:  “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it.”  In Morning Prayer we have the following refrain that continues the theme:  “Saint Joseph faithfully practiced the carpenter’s trade.  He is a shining example for all workers.”  Then, in the second part of the Collect (Opening Prayer), we ask that we may do the work God has asked of us and come to the rewards he has promised. 
 
The liturgy for this feast vindicates the right to work, and this is a message that surely needs to be heard and heeded in our modern society.  In many of the documents issued by Pope Saint John XXIII, Pope Saint Paul VI, the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Saint John Paul II, reference is made to the Christian spirit that should permeate one’s work, after the example of Saint Joseph.  In addition to this, there is a special dignity and value to the work in caring for the family.  The Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours for the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker contains this excerpt from the Vatican II document on the Church in the Modern World: “Where men and women, in the course of gaining a livelihood for themselves and their families, offer appropriate service to society, they can be confident that their personal efforts promote the work of the Creator, confer the benefits on their fellowmen, and help to realize God’s plan in history” (no. 34).

On December 8, 2020, Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter “With a Father’s Heart (Patris Corde)” to mark the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.  Let me close this column a brief reflection from that document on Saint Joseph as a working father:
 
Working persons, whatever their job may be, are cooperating with God himself, and in some way become creators of the world around us. The crisis of our time, which is economic, social, cultural and spiritual, can serve as a summons for all of us to rediscover the value, the importance and necessity of work for bringing about a new “normal” from which no one is excluded. Saint Joseph’s work reminds us that God himself, in becoming man, did not disdain work. The loss of employment that affects so many of our brothers and sisters, and has increased as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, should serve as a summons to review our priorities. Let us implore Saint Joseph the Worker to help us find ways to express our firm conviction that no young person, no person at all, no family should be without work!
 
Until next week,
Fr. John