Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker

Apparently in response to the “May Day” celebrations for workers sponsored by Communists, Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955. But the relationship between Joseph and the cause of workers has a much longer history.

In a constantly 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.


Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith
Whose strong hands were skilled at the
Plane and the lathe.
Be there at our labors and give us we pray,
Your strength in our hearts Lord,
at the noon of the day.
- Happy Feast of St. Joseph the Worker!

Artwork by Erin Sohler Jeffries

10 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Never heard of this. So this is Joseph, Jesus' father? The worker thing does connect well with the carpenter profession.

Annie Jeffries said...

Yes. Earthly father of Jesus, Ginny.

Nonnie said...

I do not remember knowing this feast day before. I was only aware of his feast day on March 19. I read about today in my Magnificat daily devotional. Happy Feast day to all workers!

Annie Jeffries said...

I remember the May Day celebrations that were televised way back in the days of the Cold War with Soviet Russia. Tanks lined up and on the move, thousands of soldiers walking in goosestep, patriotic music loud and blaring - it was very intimidating as it was meant to be. It was because of this communist display and Pope Pius XII countered with a May Day celebration honoring St. Joseph.

Naturegirl said...

I did not know this Annie! Thank you for the information.
Blessings to you on this May day!
Lots of sunshine finally in my world!!

Diane AZ said...

I hadn't heard of this May Day observance but it makes sense. Building with wood does take a lot of skill, strength and energy. Happy Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker! :)

Anonymous said...

Extra flowers for my St. Joseph statue Annie! I've featured my little statue that I love so much (especially as it was looking sad and neglected in the charity shop)on my latest post.
St. Joseph,( along with St. Francis) is one of my favourite saints.
I like your painting!

Darla said...

I was unaware of this day honoring St. Joseph. I really like the photo you illustrated the post with. We seldom see St. Joseph with the Christ Child alone.

Darla

Sue Seibert said...

We didn't remember his feast day until we said Evening Prayer last night.

J C said...

Thank you for this interesting lesson. Was that lovely painting done by someone in your family: I noticed the artist's name.

I just explored a little and read about Gus. Even though it was almost five (???) years ago now, it still brought tears to my heart. He was a sweetie, I can tell. I think he was sent to your family to comfort him in his need. I believe things like that happen.