Thursday 30 April 2015

Joseph the Worker

Friday, 01 May 2015
Community Mass

St. Joseph the Worker




Saint Joseph the Worker
        Every day St. Joseph had to provide for the family's needs with hard manual work. Thus the Church rightly points to him as the patron of workers.
        Today's is also a wonderful occasion to reflect on the importance of work in the life of the human person, the family and the community.
        The human being is the subject and the primary agent of work, and in the light of this truth, we can clearly perceive the fundamental connection between the person, work and society. Human activity - the Second Vatican Council recalls - proceeds from the human person and is ordered to the person. According to God's design and will, it must serve the true good of humanity and allow "man as an individual and as a member of society to cultivate and carry out his integral vocation" (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 35).
        In order to fulfil this mission, a"tested spirituality of human work"must be cultivated that is firmly rooted in the "Gospel of work" and believers are called to proclaim and to witness to the Christian meaning of work in their many activities and occupations (cf.Laborem exercens, n. 26).
        May St. Joseph, such a great and humble saint be an example that inspires Christian workers, who should call on him in every circumstance. Today I wish to entrust to the provident guardian of the Holy Family of Nazareth the young people who are training for their future profession, the unemployed, and those who are suffering from the hardship of the shortage of employment, families and the whole world of work, with the expectations and challenges, the problems and prospects that characterize it.
(John Paul II - General audience,Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Wednesday, 19 March 2003)
- Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

May 01 - Homily: St. Joseph, Prayerful Worker

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQGDJrYACMk  
Published on 1 May 2014
Fr. John Joseph on the feast of St. Joseph the Worker reflects on the words of St Gertrude the Great regarding the spiritual merits to doing our work well, making work a prayer. St Joseph is our example as he labored to feed and provide for the Holy Family.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Joseph the Worker - Feast - Form: OF
Readings: Thursday 2nd Week of Easter
1st: act 5:27-33
Resp: psa 34:2, 9, 17-18, 19-20
Gsp: joh 3:31-36
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For Audio go to http://airmaria.com?p=42474

iBreviary
For the Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker

SECOND READING


From the Pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world of the Second Vatican Council
(Gaudium et spes, nn. 33-34)

The worldwide activity of man


By his labor and abilities man has always striven to improve the quality of his life. Today, particularly by means of science and technology, he has extended his mastery over almost the whole of nature, and still continues to extend it. Through the development of the many means of communication among nations, the human family is coming to see itself, and establish itself, as a single worldwide community. As a result, where formerly man looked especially to supernatural forces for blessings, he now secures many of these benefits for himself, thanks to his own efforts.

In the face of this vast enterprise now engaging the whole human race, men are asking themselves a series of questions. What is the meaning and value of all this activity? How should these benefits be used? Where are the efforts of individuals and communities finally leading us?

The Church is the guardian of the deposit of God’s word, from which are drawn the principles of the religious and moral order. Without always having a ready answer to every question, the Church desires to integrate the light of revelation with the skilled knowledge of mankind, so that it may shine on the path which humanity has lately entered.

Those who believe in God take it for granted that, taken by itself, man’s activity, both individual and collective—that great struggle in which men in the course of the ages have sought to improve the conditions of human living—is in keeping with God’s purpose.

Man, created in God’s image, has been commissioned to master the earth and all it contains, and so rule the world in justice and holiness. He is to acknowledge God as the creator of all, and to see himself and the whole universe in relation to God, in order that all things may be subject to man, and God’s name be an object of wonder and praise over all the earth.

This commission extends to even the most ordinary activities of everyday life. Where men and women, in the course of gaining a livelihood for themselves and their families, offer appropriate service to society, they can be confident that their personal efforts promote the work of the Creator, confer benefit on their fellowmen, and help to realize God’s plan in history.

So far from thinking that the achievements gained by man’s abilities and strength are in opposition to God’s power, or that man with his intelligence is in some sense a rival to his Creator, Christians are, on the contrary, convinced that the triumphs of the human race are a sign of God’s greatness and the effect of his wonderful providence.

The more the power of men increases, the wider is the scope of their responsibilities, as individuals and as communities.

It is clear, then, that the Christian message does not deflect men from the building up of the world, or encourage them to neglect the good of their fellowmen, but rather places on them a stricter obligation to work for these objectives.  

RESPONSORY
See Genesis 2:15


The Lord God put man in the garden of Eden
 to cultivate the garden and care for it, alleluia.

From the beginning of time, this has been man’s lot.
 To cultivate the garden and care for it, alleluia.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

God our Father,
creator and ruler of the universe,
in every age you call man
to develop and use his gifts for the good of others.
With Saint Joseph as our example and guide,
help us to do the work you have asked
and come to the rewards you have promised.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
 Amen.


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