Optional Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker
A recurring image in Sacred Scripture for the Lord is a worker. On the seventh day the Lord rests from all His works and invites us to rest from ours. (Gen 2:2-3) Those who minister are called God’s co-laborers and the People of God are called His field, His building, His temple. (1 Cor 3:9) The Psalmist, turning to the Lord, prays on behalf of all God’s People, “Never forsake the work of your hands!” (Ps 138:8)
On this day, we have the opportunity to reflect on St. Joseph the Worker, the dignity of labor and of those who labor. That dignity, so beautifully lived out by St. Joseph, is found through contemplating the Lord. We have the grace to labor, because He works to create us at every moment of our existence, fashioning us in such a way that not only can we work, but we can direct our work. By the intentions we form, we can dedicate our labors, we can give meaning to our work. Thus our labor can acquire dignity, no matter how basic or lowly it may seem. When we work as co-laborers with the Lord, when we work out of love for Him and those He gives us, our work acquires the most profound meaning and dignity. Pope St. John Paul II described it by saying, “The sources of the dignity of work are to be sought primarily in the subjective dimension, not in the objective one. […] each sort [of work] is judged above all by the measure of the dignity of the subject of work, that is to say the person, the individual who carries it out.” (Laborem Exercens 6)
We see this in St. Joseph. A simple, humble ex-refugee, back home in Nazareth, in his carpenter’s workshop. The value of his work is not sought in the price of a table his cobbles together, but rather, for one with faith who looks upon St. Joseph as God does, the value of table is the measure of the love with which St. Joseph made it. Or contrast the chef of a five star restaurant with the Missionary of Charity in the orphanage kitchen. The meaning of the meal provided will not be determined by the quality of the ingredients, so much as the love of the one cooking it. Personally, I would rather have another breakfast prepared by a dear aunt, than any Eggs Benedict prepared by the greatest chef in the world, who will never know me and whom I will never know. As we consider that work gets its dignity from the love the worker puts into it, let us ask to imitate that Love which the Creator puts into His Creation, giving even His own Son for the sake of us, the works of His hands.