Today is the Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker!
May 1 was set aside in honor of St. Joseph as a worker in 1955 by Pope Pius XII, coinciding with International Workers Day. Pope Pius XII chose May 1 to remind Catholics of the dignity and importance of work, at a time when Communist parties used the day as an opportunity to promote their cause. In his 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope St. John Paul II writes, “The word of God’s revelation is profoundly marked by the fundamental truth that man, created in the image of God, shares by his work in the activity of the Creator and that, within the limits of his own human capabilities, man in a sense continues to develop that activity, and perfects it as he advances further and further in the discovery of the resources and values contained in the whole of creation. We find this truth at the very beginning of Sacred Scripture, in the Book of Genesis, where the creation activity itself is presented in the form of ‘work’ done by God during ‘six days,’ ‘resting’ on the seventh day.” (https://shorturl.at/0Xxmh) By honoring St. Joseph as a worker, we are reminded of the value of work; through it, we participate in God’s own creative and redeeming work, as Joseph did in providing for His family.
We pray for all workers today, especially those who work in unsafe conditions or for inadequate wages, and we pray for all those who are struggling to find work.
Today is also a pastorate feast day; we send prayers and a shout-out to our St. Joseph the Worker Pastorate! St. Joseph the Worker, pray for us!
(Window picture credit: Joe Ptak, from the chapel in All Saints Neighborhood, Madison)
