In Communist countries throughout Europe, May 1 was traditionally celebrated as the Day of the Worker. To put the worker in the context of our Christian values, Pope Pius XII established the feast of St Joseph the Worker in 1955, which we celebrate on May 1 in our liturgical calendar each year. We also celebrate St Joseph on March 19 in our liturgical calendar as the spouse of Mary. Joseph was a carpenter who taught Jesus this trade as well. The Church teaches that no matter what work we undertake in life, we are to do so with dignity and in a manner that allows us to contribute to God’s kingdom and to human society. We can find dignity in all human work, no matter what kind of work it is. We can lift that work up for the glory of the Lord.
It is easy for us to see our work and our lives as our own, to see what we do in life as our own efforts. But Pope John Paul II used the poignant expression “the Gospel of Work.” He explained in his encyclical “On Human Work,” that in the industrial age, men and women were often reduced to instruments in a society that emphasized productivity over the dignity of the worker. The technological age of our modern world promised something different but failed to deliver. We are still often defined in our secular world by what we do.
As we celebrate St Joseph the worker today, we continue to hear about the development of the early Church in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The apostles state that they are required to follow a higher authority that dictates their consciences and that influences their actions. The Sanhedrin may have issued an edict that stated that the apostles are required to refrain from preaching Christ’s Good News, but Peter and the other apostles declare that they must obey God, not man. May we always be guided by the values of our faith.
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