This evening, on the penultimate night of our holy novena, in this holy year of Saint Joseph, the heavenly Father gathers us together once more to contemplate the depths of His mercy and the beautiful wisdom of His divine plan. Particularly, He desires we reflect upon Saint Joseph as the Model of Workers.
One of the constants of human life is the cooperation in the creative impulse of God. From the first days of caring for the Garden to these recent days marked by industrialization and new technologies, man has be invited to unite his intellect and will to that of the heavenly Father—for the praise of His glory—in the opus Dei: that is, the work of God.
One of the oddities about human labor is that its fruits often remain through the years. We do not simply build imaginary castles in the sky; some of our labors impact the created, material world. From the brickwork here at Carmel to the Pieta of Michelangelo from centuries ago—this work still remains. Indeed, those who were most skilled at their labors often see the greatest longevity of their labors. Many of the aqueducts of the Roman Empire still exist today.
Which makes Saint Joseph an interesting choice for the Model of Workers. Sure, we know him to be a carpenter. But, on closer examination, it appears as though nothing of his labor remains. Save but the legend of the miraculous staircase in Santa Fe, nothing of Saint Joseph’s carpentry shop remains. No table or chairs, no armoire cabinet or desk with inlay. In a way, it would seem that having Saint Joseph as the Patron of Workers would simply remind workers that their labors pass away.
But there is one work of Saint Joseph’s that will never pass away. It wasn’t a work with wood or ruler and hammer. It was the work found in the home.
At the heart of God’s divine plan for Saint Joseph was the work of forming a family. Of building a home on the foundation of prayer and of virtue. And of protecting the Blessed Mother and the Child Jesus when forces much larger than Saint Jospeh threatened the Holy Family.
This is the work of Saint Joseph’s that remains: not a table or chairs, but the blessed Mother and our Savior. Indeed, without Saint Joseph laboring for the salvation of His Family against Herod, we would have no Holy Eucharist. In a very real way, the Eucharist is the greatest fruit of Saint Joseph’s labors.
When Pope Pius XII instituted the Memorial of Saint Joseph the worker in 1955, he did so as a direct refutation of the atheistic communism of the time. The “irreligious reds” had divorced work from holiness; indeed, they had tried to make man a machine, a cog in the body politick; and to inculcate the false idea that the family—and especially God—were obstacles to the greatest good which was productivity.
Pope Pius reminded the world that the ultimate purpose of labor is not simply productivity, but of God’s glory wherein man realizes his dignity as a cooperator in the creative impulse of God. In a word, labor is forever married to holiness. And holiness cannot be had unless it is intimately tied to the Creator and His transcendent plan for our salvation. That is to say, at the heart of Saint Joseph’s work in the carpentry shop was literally Jesus—in flesh and in mission. Jesus inspired the work of Saint Joseph and brought Saint Joseph’s work to fulfillment.
Do you have Saint
Joseph working for you? Not only have Popes exhorted the faithful to a greater
devotion to the foster-father of the Redeemer, but so many saints have as
well. Saint Andre Bessette, the miracle-worker of Montreal, had a profound
devotion to Saint Joseph. Always encouraging people to turn to Saint Joseph,
Andre—who himself was merely a porter, one who opens doors—Andre had Saint
Joseph opening the doors of faith and healing to all who entrusted themselves
to the pure heart of Joseph. This was Saint Andre’s greatest work and it was a
work of holiness that is remembered in Montreal and throughout the world to
this day.
In these most recent days, we have seen a resurgence of communism and its errors and evils. Concurrently, we have also seen the rise of automation and a generation that sees labor as a drudgery ultimately to be avoided. The absence and the end of labor—which is idolized today as “retirement”—is quite wrongly seen as the ultimate good. Long forgotten is that rich tradition and treasury of social encyclicals of our Holy Catholic Church that harken not only to man’s rights concerning labor, but also to man’s responsibility to develop and use our talents for the glory of God and the good of others. Why should our labor for holiness and the kingdom of God end when we hit “retirement age”?
May these present evils, through the intercession of our Holy Patron, be conquered!
For it is Saint Joseph who renews our focus and our mission in our work. Even his hiddenness reminds us that, while most of our labors may seem inconsequential and far from something glorious—that while most of what we do remains unseen by the world—God sees. And God will reward the laborer for his work.
In a particular way, in these days, we lift up to our heavenly Father those who are unemployed or underemployed. We lift up to Him those, too, who labor under societal structures that keep them from enjoying the fruits of their labors. We lift up to Him those who do not know rest. We lift up to Him our very selves, that we may once again find Jesus in our places of work; that we may find our mission of holiness there, and Jesus and Mary who were the ultimate labor of Joseph’s pure heart.
Saint Joseph,
model of workers. Pray for us.
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