May 1 – Joseph the Worker

Today, May 1st, marks the Feast of the Joseph the Worker.  The second reading from today’s Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours includes text from Gaudium Et Spes: The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World from the Second Vatican Council, paragraphs 33-34 (please note that the link provided here to the document is to the current translation of the document as provided on the Vatican website.  It does not match the entire excerpt in the Liturgy of the Hours.  Please consult a breviary to see it as listed in the Office of Readings).

What is the purpose of work?  Many people today see work as something we do only to pay our bills and to build up wealth.  If not for the building up of wealth, they would not want to work.  Success in work can be seen as a mastery over the world.  As the reading from Gaudium Et Spes says we have indeed become masters over much of creation of through the development of science and technology.

We also acknowledge Genesis 1:28

God blessed them, saying: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.”

Humans indeed have a special place in creation, having “dominion” over it.  Yet, we are called to respect all creation.  As listed here “dominion” does not just mean “power.”  We cannot read only this one verse from the creation story in the first chapter of Genesis.  We need to read the whole chapter that acknowledges God as Creator of everything.  God in turn gives us dominion over creation.  It is a gift.  As a gift, we should treat it well.

Genesis 2:15 says

The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.

God has given us a purpose, “to cultivate and care for it.”  This is “work.”  It is not work limited to farming (caring for the garden).  It helps us understand how we are called to work in all things; to care for all of creation.  In turn, we are called to see the good of our work.  God created for six days and on the seventh day God rested to appreciate the work he had done.

St. Joseph is forever remembered as the adopted father of Jesus and as a dedicated carpenter.  We are called to be dedicated workers in whatever work we do.  As a carpenter Joseph may have built homes or furniture for people.  He would have done it with care and done it to the best of his ability.

Do you always work to the best of your ability?  Or do you try to do as little as possible?  Do you use the skills you have been given as a gift for the good of all or just to make money for yourself?  The second is not bad.  We need money to provide for our own needs but money should not be a goal.  Our goal should be to work for the good of all people.

What does “work” mean to you?

Peace,

Fr. Jeff