Today is the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker which was established by Venerable Pope Pius XII in 1955 in order to Christianize the concept of labor and give to all workers a model and a protector.
“Communists had celebrated International Workers’ Day upon the first day of May since the late 19th century – hence the prayerful desire of Pope Pius to reorient this day towards a more Christian understanding of human work and to do so under the patronage of Saint Joseph,” explains Kishore Jayabalan, Chairman of the Diocese of Lansing’s Commission on Catholic Social Teaching, May 1.
“God Himself worked in creating the world and calls us ‘to till and to keep it’ (Genesis 2:15), allowing us in to cooperate in this divine task. His only-begotten Son was born into a human family headed by a craftsman, who had the responsibility to teach and provide for the child Jesus.”
“And through His Church’s moral and social teaching, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, God continues to promote human dignity and the common good in solidarity and subsidiarity through human work.”
The Diocese of Lansing’s Commission on Catholic Social Teaching was established by Bishop Earl Boyea in 2020 to help catechize all the baptized in the diocese on the principles of Catholic social teaching, advance the dignity of the human person, and to promote the common good of society.
A native of Flint, Kishore Jayabalan previously served at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican. He was baptized and received into the Church by Pope Saint John Paul II in Saint Peter’s Basilica in 1996.
“Just as God Himself rested on the Sabbath, let us also remember today that work is not an end in itself but exists to glorify God and serve others in charity and truth,” concludes Kishore.
Saint Joseph the Worker, pray for us!