St Joseph the Worker

This is a great preface I found on Universalis.com about today's feast of St Joseph. Christ has sanctified our work, just as he has sanctified the waters of Baptism as long as it is done in the name of God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate the feast of St Joseph the Worker, step-father and guardian of our Lord and the chaste husband of the Virgin Mary. We celebrate the worker, offering the work of his hands to God. No matter what we do, whether cook or carpenter, banker or baker, if we offer our work to God, He will sanctify it. We can all strive for sainthood in our work day.

I have long admired St Josemaria Escriva and his life's passion Opus Dei (The Work of God). I have included a message from the Prelate at the end of this post.


The feast of Saint Joseph the Worker is not a mere Catholic copying of the Communist First of May – any more than Christmas is a mere copy of the pagan feast of Saturnalia.

The Christian view of work is diametrically opposed to the materialist view. A worker such as St Joseph is not a mere lump of labour – “1.00 human work units.” He is a person. He is created in God’s own image, and just as creation is an activity of God, so creation is an activity of the worker. The work we do echoes the glorious work that God has done. It may not be wasted; or abused; or improperly paid; or directed to wrong or pointless ends. To do any of these things is not oppression, it is sacrilege. The glory of the present economic system is when it gives so many, of whatever class, the chance to build and create something worthwhile, whether from their own resources, or in collaboration with others, or by attracting investment from others. But its shame is when that does not happen: when people are coerced, by greed or by poverty, into being “lumps of labour.” Whether the labour is arduous or not makes no difference; whether it is richly paid or not makes no difference.

Because she must combat the anti-humanist Communist heresy the Church is sometimes thought to be on the side of capital. Reading the successive Papal encyclicals on labour and society, from Rerum Novarum (1891) onwards, will soon dispel that illusion. The enemies of the Church have no reason to read them; all too often we feel too comfortable in our present economic state and refrain from reading them also.

MESSAGE OF THE DAY - From Opus Dei
“Your human vocation is a part of your divine vocation”

As Jesus, who is our Lord and Model, grows in and lives as one of us, he reveals to us that human life - your life - and its humdrum, ordinary business, have a meaning which is divine, which belongs to eternity. (The Forge, 688)

Christian faith and calling affect our whole existence, not just a part of it. Our relations with God necessarily demand giving ourselves, giving ourselves completely. The man of faith sees life, in all its dimensions, from a new perspective: that which is given us by God.

You, who celebrate with me today this feast of St Joseph, are men who work in different human professions; you have your own homes, you belong to so many different countries and have different languages. You have been educated in lecture halls or in factories and offices. You have worked in your profession for years, established professional and personal friendships with your colleagues, helped to solve the problems of your companies and your communities.

Well then: I remind you once again that all this is not foreign to God’s plan. Your human vocation is a part — and an important part — of your divine vocation. That is the reason why you must strive for holiness, giving a particular character to your human personality, a style to your life; contributing at the same time to the sanctification of others, your fellow men; sanctifying your work and your environment: the profession or job that fills your day, your home and family and the country where you were born and which you love. (Christ is passing by, 46)