Today, we celebrate the memorial of Saint
Joseph, the patron saint of all workers. The feast, which was established by
Pope Pius XII in 1955, serves not only to honor the foster father of Jesus, but
also to remind us of the dignity of workers and the value of honest work as a
means to holiness.
Saint Joseph provided support for the holy
family by the work of his own hands in a humble carpenter shop in Nazareth.
Most likely, he taught the young Jesus not only the religious and social
customs of the Jewish people, but also the carpenter’s trade, in which he was
an expert. Jesus must have worked beside his father, and by listening and
observing him, he must have learned the virtue of diligence, patience, dedication
and hard work. The bible tells us that Joseph was a righteous man, which leaves
no wonder why Jesus, who remained obedient to his parents, grew in age, wisdom
and grace before God and men (Lk 2:51-52).
The person of Saint Joseph should inspire us
to value and love our work. Work is not a curse, but humankind’s vocation from
God. We are called to “subdue the earth”, meaning to cultivate it and to take
care of it by working. In his Encyclical Laborem Exercens, John Paul II
mentioned precisely that “through work man not only transforms nature,
adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a
human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes more a human being” (n. 9). To
work, therefore, is a sublime expression of our having been created in the
image and likeness of God. By working honestly and dutifully, we become more
and more like God.
While we thank God for our work today, we
also pray for all those who are unemployed and for those who are not happy with
their work. Let us ask God to move the hearts of employers so that they will
learn to love and respect their workers by providing them with just wage and
humane working conditions.
Long ago in ancient Greece an aged sculptor was laboring
over a block of stone. He carved with utmost care, probing the rock with his
chisel, chipping away a fragment at a time, gauging the marks with sinewy hands
before making the next cut. When it was finished, the piece would be hoisted
high into the air and set on top of a towering shaft, and so would become the
capital, or uppermost part, of a column. And the column would help support the
roof of a lofty temple.
“Why spend so much time and effort on
that section?” asked a government official who passed by. “It will sit fifty
feet high. No human eye will be able to see those details.”
The old artist put down his hammer and
chisel, gazed steadily at his questioner and replied: “But God will see it!” (William
Bennett)
