Reflection of the for the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker
By
Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Director, Social Action Movement, Don Bosco Bidar
Reflective Reading of the Word of God
John 10:11-18
The good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep
Jesus said:
‘I am the good shepherd:
the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.
The hired man, since he is not the shepherd
and the sheep do not belong to him,
abandons the sheep and runs away
as soon as he sees a wolf coming,
and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep;
this is because he is only a hired man
and has no concern for the sheep.
‘I am the good shepherd;
I know my own
and my own know me,
just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father;
and I lay down my life for my sheep.
And there are other sheep I have
that are not of this fold,
and these I have to lead as well.
They too will listen to my voice,
and there will be only one flock,
and one shepherd.
‘The Father loves me,
because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me;
I lay it down of my own free will,
and as it is in my power to lay it down,
so it is in my power to take it up again;
and this is the command I have been given by my Father.’
Introduction:
Today we celebrate the liturgical feast of St. Joseph the Worker to honour St. Joseph, to highlight the dignity and importance of labour, and to honour the workers who are dignified by their labour and who bring Christ to their workplace. This is the second feast of St. Joseph; the first was the feast of St. Joseph, husband of Mary and patron of the universal Church, which we celebrated on the 19th of March.
History:
In response to the May Day Celebrations of workers in the Communist countries where workers were considered mere “cogs in the machine,” Pope Pius XII (declared Venerable December 19, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI; Wikipedia), instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955 to Christianize the concept of labour, to acknowledge the dignity of labour and to give all workers a role-model and heavenly patron.
Theology of work:
The Bible presents God as a worker (Gen 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”) Who is engaged in the work of creation and of providing for His creatures. God the Father assigns His Son Jesus the work of human redemption and gives the Holy Spirit the work of our sanctification. That is why Jesus said: “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work (John 5:17). In Paradise, Adam and Eve tilled and kept the Garden in obedience to the Father, and after their Fall into disobedience, He command that man should continue to work outside the Garden where their work would become toil “to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow” (Gn 3:19). Jesus showed us the necessity and nobility of work by working in Joseph’s carpentry shop until he started his public life -- a work of preaching and healing in his Messianic ministry. The workers are important and their work noble, not only because they obey God’s command to work, but also because they sustain and promote social welfare and the progress of societies.
Joseph as an exemplary worker:
Joseph worked to support his family by helping his neighbours, using his skill in carpentry. He was a just worker, honest in his trade of buying wood, selling his finished products, and charging for his services. He was a working parent, labouring hard to support his family. He was a praying worker who prayed in all his needs, got answers from God in dreams on important occasions, and kept God’s presence in his workshop. He was an obedient worker who kept the Mosaic Law of Sabbath rest and spent the day of rest to take Jesus to the local synagogue and to teach Jesus God’s Law given through Moses.
Reflection for the day
Today the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Joseph and specifically under the title of St. Joseph the Worker.
Hence St. Joseph is also the patron of all working people, besides being the patron of the Church, fathers and carpenters and also of the dying.
Being a patron of all working people, we would feel a deep affiliation with St. Joseph because we spend a considerable amount of time at work.
And we could relate with him in what was told of us in the scriptures.
We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.
We know he was a carpenter, a working man, and in the gospel a skeptical question was asked about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55).
He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified, he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).
There is much we wish we could know about Joseph, about where and when he was born, about how he spent his days, about when and how he died.
But Scripture has left us with one of the most important knowledge of who he was - "a righteous man" (Matthew 1:18).
May we always turn to St. Joseph for his intercession before and at the end of our work.
May we also be righteous and honest in our dealings at work and with our superiors and colleagues so that in all we do at work, we will give glory to God.
Life messages:
Let us appreciate the dignity of all forms of work and all types of laborers as they glorify God and promote the welfare of society.
Let us be sincere and committed to our work as St. Joseph was, working in the constant awareness of the presence of God.
3) Let us love our work and convert it into prayer by offering it for God’s glory.
Good morning
Have a lovely day and a great week ahead
Happy feast of St Joseph the Worker.