Monday:       Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.
Date:         May 1, 2023.
Year:         A
The readings: [Acts 11:1-18; Jn. 10:11-18]
The message:  The love of one's labour in the workplace.
Prepared by:  Catholic Doors Ministry.
Total words:  995

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Welcome my spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ to today's celebration of the Holy Mass that commemorates the liturgical Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

Today's celebration is one of two Feasts that are celebrated by the Holy Catholic Church in honour of St. Joseph. The first Feast, St. Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church, is celebrated on or around March 20 th. Today's Feast that commemorates St. Joseph as a carpenter, exemplifies the working people who are dignified by their labour and who bring Christ into their workplace.

It was not until the 15 th century that the name of St. Joseph was entered into the Liturgical Calendar of the Catholic Church. Since then, devotion to St. Joseph experienced a tremendous growth. Finally, in 1955, Pope Pius XII proclaimed on May 1, Labour Day in many countries, the Feast that we are joyfully celebrating today.

When reflecting on St. Joseph as a worker, a carpenter, what comes to our minds? As a general rule, we associate the word 'worker' with the words 'career' or 'employment.' This association relates to our secular work. But what about our spiritual work?

Through St. Joseph, a great model for all Christians, we see a love for both, his worldly and spiritual labour. St. Joseph was an artistic carpenter who loved to transform a piece of wood by creating useful objects. In his mind, he surely perceived that the wood that came from the trees was a God given gift. As Christian carvers of wood do, St. Joseph must have surely spent endless hours in prayer to the Lord God so that he might be inspired as to the potential end result of each piece of wood that was processed through the labour of his hands.

As all parents have to, St. Joseph had to fulfill his marital obligation to support his family. He worked day after day to support the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus.

Through his work, St. Joseph had to be honest in his dealings with the suppliers of wood and the buyers or traders who purchased his finished product. His honesty was a reflection of his obedience to the command of God to live a righteous life.

As a parent, when his adopted Son Jesus came of age, St. Joseph had to work with Him. St Joseph taught his trade to the Lord Jesus who was God incarnated in human form. Imagine, a man, a mere human being, teaching God, He Who's infinite knowledge surpasses that of the entire human race.

In all these things, we see the correlation of the worldly and the spiritual labour in the work place. Through St. Joseph, we are reminded of how we should labour in our Christian life at work and at home.

Today's First Reading from the New Testament reminds us of the conversation of Paul who was a murderous sinner before he became one of the greatest saints that the Catholic Church has ever known. Before his transformation to the faith, Paul's obsession was to capture christians, imprison them and finally, for Roman entertainment, feed them to the lions in the arena. But God had other plans for him.

While the emphasis during this Reading was on the person of Paul, there was another individual in the background of this event. His name was Ananias. When Ananias was told by Jesus to go to Saul, he was not too excited. After all, everyone knew that Saul was the greatest persecutor of Christians. In complete trust, as an instrument of the Lord through which the Holy Spirit could move, Ananias obeyed.

In this Reading, we notice the powerful love of one's labour. When one truly loves the Lord, no obstacle will prevent that person from serving God according to the Divine Will. No human weakness, no fear, no trembling, no cowardice, should stand in the way of a Christian' service to the Lord in the love of Christ.

The Gospel Reading that we just heard is a reminder as to where we get our strength from. We do not get our strength from lots of rest, lots of food or from drinking lots of liquids. Our strength comes from our union with Christ through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the true Bread of life. As Jesus said, "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them."

Jesus calls us to remain in union with Him by continually receiving the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Through this perfect union, we grow in the love of our labour for the Lord. Through this growth and perfect love, we serve the Lord Jesus without any limitations. As Saint Joseph obeyed his calling, we will obey our calling. As Saint Paul obeyed his calling, we will obey our calling. As all the past and present saints of the Church obeyed their calling, we will obey our calling.

Those who live model lives as St. Joseph did, they do so by the grace of God the Father in the Most Holy Name of Jesus through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit who guides them in the ways of God. Blessed with the new nature that they received during the Sacrament of Baptism, they have embraced the spiritual way that Jesus commanded His followers to obey. Without embracing a spiritual mind, it is impossible to please God.

For St. Joseph to please God, he had to live a holy life that was filled with righteousness. Joseph's 'yes' to accept the Virgin Mary as his spouse was his baptismal 'yes' to faithfully serve the Lord God. For us to please God, we have to follow in the footstep of Saint Joseph over and above submitting ourselves to the Church and its Sacraments for our assurance of salvation and eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

Let us always look up to St. Joseph as one of our Patron Saints. As the Patron of workers, for those of us who work, St. Joseph is the model that we should imitate to ensure that the grace of God shall continue to flow upon us and flourish richly through us.

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The readings...

[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]

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First Reading...

"Now the apostles and the believers[a] who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.

At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’

And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”

When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.” [Acts 11:1-18]

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Gospel Reading...

"Jesus said to the Pharisees, 'I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” [Jn. 10:11-18]

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