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Saint Joseph: A Model for Fathers

Tuesday May 1, 2001 Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

Reading (Genesis 1:26-2:3)

Gospel (St. Matthew 13:54-58)

We celebrate, today, the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. Once again, we are reminded of the dignity of work and the example Saint Joseph gave to his Son; the example, then, which God puts before all of us to be able to see that we need to work. There are, of course, different types of work. There are those who will do physical labor; there are those who are involved in intellectual work; and, of course, the most important work of all: that of being a parent, of being able to raise children, provide for them, and care for them. In whatever manner that is done, it is critically important.

It is especially important in our day, where we see that the work of the parents is being undermined. It is critical that parents take their role very, very seriously, and guard and protect their children carefully. Make sure that the work that is yours to do as parents is not being done by somebody else, because the people who want to raise your children are not raising them well. They are trying to destroy our young people and they are doing quite a fine job of it, we must admit. They have every means available right there at their disposal. They have an endless supply of money to do whatever they want. They are using the media and all kinds of different means.

They are taking the parents out of the home to make sure the kids are on their own or are being raised by somebody else. It is not a good situation. This primary work which has to do with one of the very first of the commandments God gave to humanity: to be fertile and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, must be taken very, very seriously by parents.

We live in a society which tells us that material goods are what is most important: "If both parents are out working full time, you can have more material goods. It will be the fruit of your labor." It is the wrong reason to work. Work is there to support the family, and the support of the family is not to have more stuff. The support of the family is to make sure we are raising saints for God. There are times when both parents must work, that is understandable, but that is not what the norm ought to be. The norm should be that the parents are to be there with their children.

The father, in particular, should be providing for his family. If it is a necessity that there be two incomes in order to make ends meet, then, yes, the mother may have to work; but if she does not need to, she ought not to because the most important work she can engage in is that of raising her children, caring for them, teaching them. That cannot be replaced by anybody. When we see the dignity of the work, we need to be able to put it into context and see that, in our society, it is being twisted. Work is being touted, but for the wrong reason and in the wrong manner. We have gotten to the point where we want work to be a fun, easy kind of thing. Work should be enjoyable, but we are not there just to have fun. Work is there as a labor, and labor is not always easy. We need to make sure that we are fulfilling the duties of our state in life.

For those who must go to a job, that means to do the job to the best of your ability. For those who are home with your children, that means to attend to all the details of the duties of the state in life that are yours. All these things are part of work.

Today, the Church holds up before us this feast to remind us of the dignity of work. It is so dignified that God has set aside a special day to make sure that we do not work. It is one of those things - if we do the same thing over and over again, we can lose the importance of it. When we take that day of rest, that day of recreation, it reminds us very clearly of how important the work is. It is another point in our society where Sunday has been eroded terribly. Maybe we can squeeze Mass in around running to the soccer games, the hockey games, the football games and doing all the other things. It is not to be that way. Sunday is the Lord’s day, we need to keep it as such so that we can focus on the Will of God; and thereby have the grace and opportunity to be able to carry on the work which is His throughout the rest of the week.

We want to look at our own selves, and ask ourselves, "Have we fallen prey to the lies, to the deception of the evil one that he has put forth in our world? Have we fallen prey to the worldly ways that suggest we need more things and the best we can do for our children is to give them more material things, as if some piece of material junk is worth more than you are, and is worth more than the love of the parents?" Be with your children. Work with your children. That is what is most important. That cannot be taken by anybody else. God has given us children to raise and that is the primary work of a parent. If we have fallen prey to the worldly ways, we need to make sure we are looking at that very seriously and ask ourselves, "Is this a necessity? Or is it a want?" If it is a want, then we need to amend our ways. We need to look at God, we need to ask Him: "What is His Will in this matter? Should we be working at a job? Or should we be working at home?" That is the question we need to look at.

Today, as we look at Saint Joseph, we have the ultimate model for those who must go to a job and work. We have the ultimate model of the work of a father. Then, because of that, we also see reflected the ultimate model of a mother because Our Lady did not have to go to a job. They lived in poverty, they survived, but she did not go out and try to find a job to make more money and to make things easier. She knew that the most important work that was hers was to raise her Son. Saint Joseph supported that entirely. While they did not have much, they had enough. They trusted in God that He would provide. That is the dignity we look at today: the dignity of the family, the dignity of work. Everything that we do is at the support of the family and for the good of the children.

*This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

May 1, 2002 Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

Reading (Gen 1:26-2:3)

Gospel (St. Matthew 13:54-58)

In the gospel reading today, the relatives of Our Lord were asking the question, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” Now this is an important question not just simply because Jesus was raised in the home of Mary and Joseph, but rather He had lived His life is such a manner that nobody would have ever known that He was anything other than the son of Joseph. Externally there was nothing to point to that, and because of the holiness of St. Joseph, when the people looked at Our Lord they were able to see a reflection of St. Joseph.

It tells us something of the holiness of this great man whose feast we celebrate today. One who is not only like us in the sense that he is made in the image and likeness of God, but one who has perfected what it means to be that image and likeness. So perfect in fact that when they looked at St. Joseph and they looked at Jesus, they were not able to see that there was a lot of difference. They were able to see the similarities that were there and they were able to say, is not this man the carpenter’s son.

They saw in Jesus what they thought was a normal situation for a child and parents, that the child becomes like his parents. Of course in this case we know that St. Joseph is merely the foster father of Jesus and that it is the opposite, the father in this case became like his son. He had completely brought himself to the likeness of God. He had achieved perfection and was truly the just or the righteous man.

The people did not understand what this really was, that St. Joseph had been conformed to God rather than God being conformed to St. Joseph. They did not understand that Jesus was God.

We see St. Joseph being a carpenter, and the word that is used there in Greek is not necessarily carpenter, but it would actually be better translated as artisan. In the first reading God is undertaking the work of creation and we see St. Joseph as this artisan, sharing in that work of creation. In a sense we can say that he is co-creating with God with the work of his hands. That too is what each one of us is called to do.

Through our work we are to be co-creators with the Lord, but more than anything we must learn from St. Joseph to conform ourselves. We are not to merely conform wood or stone or whatever it is into some beautiful image, but to take this heart of stone that we have, and sometimes this block of wood on top of our shoulders one could say, and form that into the very image of God. Form that into the image of the love of God, to the mind and the heart of God, transform ourselves as St. Joseph had done. So while he had learned a trade, he had applied that very trade to himself and he had done the work on himself in his spiritual life.

Then what people saw in his work with the wood and the stone and anything else with which he worked, simply reflected the image of what was already within himself. It is the same for us, if we want to be able to really do our work in the best way, that is in the way that God wants the work done, we need to begin with the work on the self. That is not to make the self the way that we want it, but rather to allow the self to be made the way God wants it. We are to be made in His image and likeness, to be perfected, to be as God, and then in our works we will be able to glorify God.

Then like St. Joseph, when people look at us they will not be able to see a difference between us and Jesus Christ. With us they will understand the proper order, that it is not Our Lord Who was transformed to be like us because we raised Him, but they will understand the truth. Through the prayer, through the work that has been done within our hearts, that we have become like Jesus Christ, and been transformed into Him.

*This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

Thursday May 1, 2003 Saint Joseph the Worker

Reading (Genesis 1:26-2:3)

Gospel (St. Matthew 13:54-58)

In the first reading that we heard today from the Book of Genesis, we are told that God created us in His own image and likeness, setting us above everything else. But being that He has created us in His own image and likeness, we are then created to be, obviously, like God. We are created to do what God does. And so, God, as we know, is love; we have talked about that many times, that we are made to love and be loved because we are made in the image and likeness of Love Himself.

At the same time, what we see in the readings today is that God works. Therefore, we, being made in the image and likeness of God, also work. It is part of our human dignity. All of us know fully well that there is nothing worse than sitting around with absolutely nothing to do. It is not only boring but it violates our own dignity. So we recognize, then, that there is a dignity to work. And, of course, there are a variety of types of work. For instance, we look and see that the very first commandment God gave to humanity is to be fertile and multiply, and fill and subdue the earth. The first work of humanity is to be married and to raise a family. Any one of you who is married knows that that truly is an awful lot of work. It is not a simple task – it is a glorified and dignified task – but it is a lot of work.

Then there is the other work that we have to do. Whether that would be for a farmer tilling the field, or whether that is a person going to an office, or whatever it may be, we have the work that is there to support a family. But we need to make sure we keep the order in proper perspective. That is, the family comes first; work is secondary. The work is there to support the family, not the other way around. Unfortunately, in the case of many Americans and in many countries where they are celebrating today a Communist feast day, it is seen completely the other way around, that is, the work is there as the primary thing and everything else is there to support the work. But that is wrong. That is not the way God created things. It is part of our dignity to work, but the work has to be seen in proper perspective.

And so, as we recognize the great and glorious Saint Joseph today and honoring the work that he did – Saint Joseph, who is so easily forgotten in the Scriptures and in our own lives – he is the one who worked to support the Holy Family. It is his work primarily in making sure that he was being a faithful and good husband and father, that is the primary task which God gave to him. That was his vocation: to be a husband and a father. His work as an artisan supported his family, but his family was clearly the top priority in his life (behind God Himself, of course).

So too, then, we need to learn from Saint Joseph. We need to learn how to work, but that the work also must be done out of love, because if work is there to support the family then we are working because we love the family. So we need to look at our own attitude about going to work. Is our attitude in work one of charity? By that, I do not mean working at no cost. Certainly, there is volunteer work that we do out of charity for others, but even the work that we do to make a living needs to be done with an attitude of charity, with a proper disposition, that is, to go to work as a matter of love, love for one’s family, love for one’s co-workers. Therefore, do not be grumbling and complaining and whining and doing all the things that we like to do when it comes to work, gossiping and whatever else it may be, because that violates the charity that should be there within us as we go forth to work.

Rather we need to see this work as part of our human dignity and to approach it with human dignity so that we do not wind up violating ourselves as we try to support our family; but rather, out of love for family and out of love for neighbor (those at work), that we approach the work with the proper disposition and recognize the dignity that the work itself has, and that without that kind of work (whatever the variety may be, it does not matter) we know that we are not fulfilling and living up to our own human dignity. And so we need to recognize the work in that way and approach it as God approached it: with the greatest of respect, with the greatest of reverence, but also in the proper order. It is there not as the primary thing, but as the secondary thing. God worked for His children, and so do we. That is the purpose of work. The family is first and the work is there to support the family.

*This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.