For many years, the Soviet Union and other Communist Eastern Bloc countries held massive rallies and marches to celebrate the communist notion of the worker on the first day of May, which they called May Day. “Celebrating the dignity of work”, sounds like a noble ideal. In fact, in our own country, we celebrate Labor Day on the 1st Monday of September, as a national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
Remember, however, that Communism is essentially atheistic—it strips the individual of his God-given dignity, and treats him as a cog in the wheel for the prosperity of the state.
When Pope Pius XII instituted this Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker in 1955, he wished to remind the world that all of our Human Labors should be aimed, not merely at the prosperity of the state or the individual, but for God.
The Psalmist says, “Unless God is the builder, our building is in vain.” Saint Paul says, “whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.
Our society is in danger of falling into the communist error again. When a society or an individual removes all reference of God from life, we end up, as Pope Francis stated in his first encyclical “worshiping the work of our own hands”. Pope Francis called this sort of idolatry, “an aimless passing from one lord to another…a plethora of paths leading nowhere.”
On this Feast, Saint Joseph is raised up as an example for all workers, to remind the world that human labor is not just about building a communist utopia, or making a name for ourselves. Our labor is to reflect God, point to God, and serve God.
St. Joseph offered to God with patience and joy, the daily labor of his carpenter’s shop, and provided for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God. Human Labor is transformed into a very good and holy thing when it is offered to God. Through human work we can cultivate God’s creation—cultivating fields, harvesting fruits, turning trees into buildings and homes and books, making the world not only habitable, but a place where knowledge and life and beauty and right worship flourish.
When our labors are begun with faith, and carried out with faith, as it is in the example of St. Joseph, labor can become an opportunity for an encounter with God and imitation of God, who Himself is depicted in Scripture as a worker—a shepherd, a tender of vineyards, a gardener, a creator.
As we prayed in the Collect, “O God, Creator of all things, who laid down for the human race the law of work, graciously grant that by the example of Saint Joseph and under his patronage we may complete the works you set us to do and attain the rewards you promise” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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