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Dear Sisters and Brothers in
the Lord:
The Church honors St. Joseph,
husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus on two dates in the
liturgical year. March 19 is a solemnity and the other date, which we
will celebrate this Friday, May 1st, is a memorial.
Apparently in response to the
“May Day” celebrations for workers sponsored by Communists, Pius
XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955. But the
relationship between Joseph and the cause of workers has a longer
history. In a continuing and necessary effort to keep Jesus from being
removed from ordinary human life, the Church has from the beginning
proudly emphasized that Jesus was a carpenter, obviously trained by
Joseph in both the satisfactions and the drudgery of that vocation.
Humanity is like God not only in thinking and loving, but also in
creating. Whether we make a table or a cathedral, we are called to bear
fruit with our hands and mind, ultimately for the building up of the
Body of Christ.
This beautiful
prayer was composed by Blessed Pope John XXIII (1958-63). It places all
workers under the patronage of St. Joseph the Worker, and asks for his
intercession so that we may regard our work as a means of growing in
holiness.
O glorious
Joseph! Who concealed your incomparable and regal dignity of custodian
of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary under the humble appearance of a
craftsman and provided for them with your work, protect with loving
power your sons and daughters, especially entrusted to you. You know
their anxieties and sufferings, because you yourself experienced them at
the side of Jesus and of His Mother. Do not allow them, oppressed by so
many worries, to forget the purpose for which they were created by God.
Do not allow the seeds of distrust to take hold of their immortal souls.
Remind all the workers that in the fields, in factories, in mines, in
scientific laboratories and in all place where men and women labor, they
are not working, rejoicing, or suffering alone, but at their side is
Jesus, with Mary, His Mother and ours, to sustain them, to dry the sweat
of their brow, giving value to their toil. Teach them to turn work into
a very high instrument of sanctification as you did. Amen.
Let’s give our minds and hearts to the Lord
this Easter Season.
Father Joe
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