May 1: Saint Joseph the Worker
The humble carpenter of Nazareth
“An aspect of Saint Joseph that has been emphasized from the time of the first social Encyclical, Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, is his relation to work. Saint Joseph was a carpenter who earned an honest living to provide for his family. From him, Jesus learned the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labour.” So wrote Pope Francis in the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.
There is no doubt that when Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker in 1955, he did so with the intention of giving the world of work a protector and a model.
In fact, on the solemnity of March 19 Saint Joseph is celebrated as the earthly father of Jesus, a just man, born of the lineage of David, and the last Patriarch who received messages from the Lord through dreams. In this sense, he is one of the most important Saints in salvific history and beloved by the Church. On May 1, instead, Saint Joseph is celebrated in his human condition as a worker, a carpenter and, as such, the Patron Saint of workers.
On this day we remember the environment in which Jesus’ earthly father lived and worked and we rediscover the Holy Family and the daily life of the Son of God in Nazareth. Celebrating the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker also means emphasizing that Jesus also worked and thus knew the human condition in everything except sin.
In fact, in the Gospel Jesus is called “the carpenter’s son”. Therefore on this day dedicated to Saint Joseph, the dignity of human work is recognized as a duty and the fulfillment in honoring creation, rendering a service to the community, collaborating in the work of the Creator and His plan of salvation.
As Saint John Paul II wrote in the Encyclical Laborem exercens: "The Church is convinced that work constitutes a fundamental dimension of man's existence on earth".
It is evident that the figure of Saint Joseph, the humble worker of Nazareth, favors the encounter with Christ, the Savior of mankind. Thus it is first of all affirmed that work gives man the possibility of participating in the creative work of God and of bringing it to completion.
For this reason, the Church asks the faithful to reflect on the teachings of the Magisterium on the theme of work, especially with the Encyclicals Mater et Magistra of John XXIII, Populorum progressio of Paul VI and Laborem exercens of John Paul II.