The sixth section of our Holy Father’s Apostolic Exhortation Patris Corde carries the title “a working father.” This title is all to familiar to us, as all of our fathers and mothers work both within and outside the home.
“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.” (#6) We know from the Gospels it was said,“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.””(Lk 2:52) St. Joseph was an example to Jesus of the dignity and blessing of work. Pope Francis reminds us how the dignity and the joy of work are not just ideas but part of God’s plan for all people. Work helps to fulfill our vocation and call to holiness this was made especially clear in Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical “Rerum Novarum”.
As we look at one paragraph in this section, we see how St. Joseph the Worker becomes a model for us in working in and for the Kingdom of God by doing our own work conscientiously. “Work is a means of participating in the work of salvation, an opportunity to hasten the coming of the Kingdom,” (#6) At times work is not fun, interesting or exciting. There are times and even jobs where drudgery and boredom seem the better descriptor of the task at hand and yet even these tasks and jobs are vital in the Kingdom and a place to share the blessing of God. Early on in my life I did three of these “boring jobs”, first was discing a field. Going round and round on a tractor pulling a disc to knock down the stubble, break up the ground…it often seemed endless with the drone of the engine and the heat and dust of the day. There were the nights standing guard in the Marine Corps: alone, no one else around yet needing to stay alert (and awake) in your duty. And then there were the hours working in a mail room, sorting mail, delivering mail, posting mail…the brain could just sleep. Yet each of these jobs were fruitful as part of the needed activity to produce food, protect the fellow Marines and keep a company running.
Pope Francis continues, where he reminds us we are challenged “to develop our talents and abilities, and to put them at the service of society and fraternal communion.” (#6) While the three things listed above drove me crazy at the time they did help me to become the man I am today. The perseverance, the fidelity to duty and the team attitude not readily seen at the time are in hindsight valuable virtues that have grown into my heart. These simple (and boring ) jobs helped to show me how to develop the greater talents God gave to me and to others and allowed me know myself better and to help others be successful in many different ways.
Work is a moment of grace and “It becomes an opportunity for the fulfillment not only of oneself, “(#6) this is the individual grace received “but also of that primary cell of society which is the family.”(#6) and the moment where the grace flows outward into the relationships and blessing of the world. The individual achievement is always built on the foundation of a desire for a greater good. Both in the individual family and in the family of God we seek to serve and help others through the work we do as an instrument of God’s grace.
“A family without work is particularly vulnerable to difficulties, tensions, estrangement and even break-up.” (#6) This time of pandemic has certainly proven this simple phrase. As a parish priest I here these stories too often in ministry and I know each person knows these stories too. It is heart breaking as we see our bothers and sisters suffering through the doubt and the loss of dignity unemployment brings to the family. I can only speak from my limited experience of being unemployed for a few short months and how the malaise and doubt hindered my understanding of my own dignity as a child of God.
“How can we speak of human dignity without working to ensure that everyone is able to earn a decent living?” (#6) We remember that from the beginning God called Adam and Eve, and each subsequent generation, to labor in the field and do the work of caring for one another and the gift of God’s creation. And this is the work of St. Joseph we are called to emulate and participate in today; the caring for each other as he did with our Blessed Mother and her son Jesus. It is using the talents and gifts given by God to work within the creative goodness of our Heavenly Father. It is the blessing of the dignity of life that we are all created to share in with the fullness of God’s divine grace.
“Let us implore Saint Joseph the Worker to help us find ways to express our firm conviction that no young person, no person at all, no family should be without work!” (#6)
God Bless Fr. Mark