St Joseph The Worker.

St Joseph The Worker.

The Feast of St. Joseph the worker has been celebrated in the Church since 1955. Inspired by his example the Church has always held that all work, no matter how  menial some may seem to others is inspired by God and brings with it great dignity and value. We know from Scripture that right from the beginning man was made for work. In the garden of Eden Adam had to "till the land and keep it". Before the fall man cooperated with God and participated in the overall task of Divine Providence. We have to assume because all was well in the garden Adam did this with a joyful heart. He knew it was something his Creator asked of him.
When sin entered the garden something that had intended to be enjoyable suddenly became laborious. "Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread".

So often we see our work as removed from its original intention. We look upon it as a form of punishment or as something oppressive that gets in the way of us living our lives. For some it is a means to make vast sums of money because that is where their happiness lies. We fail to see the value of work itself; that all work, no matter what it is can be used to help us in our sanctification.

We are being asked by God to participate in His creation. So often we classify people by the jobs they do. We look down upon those in manual labour or those who clean and sweep our streets. But all work has value and all is needed for the good of society. If our streets weren't cleaned and our bins emptied then can you imagine the stench and dirt we would all be in. Work is a gift from God, it makes no sense to classify men differently according to their occupations, as if some jobs were better than others. All work is intertwined and keeps each of us connected, it bears witness to the innate dignity of man and our dominion over creation. Work allows each of us to develop, we form relationships with our colleagues around us, we support our families and contribute to the wider society in which we live.

We must remember while here on earth Jesus followed in the footsteps of St.Joseph and like so many young men before him he took on his fathers trade. If we unite our work through Christ, Christ will sanctify it. So on those " bad days"  when work is all "toil and sweat" we have something of immense value  to offer the Father.