St. Joseph the Worker

Parishioners of St. Joseph the Worker:

HAPPY FEAST DAY!  This Sunday, May 1^st, is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.  However, because it occurs on a Sunday of Easter, this year the 3^rd Sunday, our Feast Day is not celebrated in the liturgical calendar.  The Easter Sunday “trumps” St. Joseph.

BUT, we can still celebrate it ourselves.  We can take the beautiful image of Joseph working and apply it to our lives of faith.  What do we do for our Lord, our Church, our parish, our families?  Are we hard workers in the vineyard of our Lord?  Do we accept tasks at SJW when asked, and accept with a smile and in gratitude? 

How privileged we are as a community of believers to bear the name of Joseph, the foster father of Jesus Christ.  What an honor it is for us to follow his example of caring for the Savior of the world and care for others around us, in whom the Lord’s Spirit dwells. 

Let us “go to work” each and every day in our faith, thereby continuing the work of Jesus and the Church.  St. Joseph gave us the model to follow.  Let us work at following his lead.  And, let us pray the following prayer to St. Joseph the Worker:

       O Glorious Saint Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in a spirit of penance for the expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my natural inclinations; to work with thankfulness and joy, considering it an honor to employ and develop by means of labor the gifts received from God; to work with order, peace, moderation, and patience, never shrinking from weariness and trials; to work above all with purity of intention and detachment from self, keeping unceasingly before my eyes death and the account that I must give of time lost, talents unused, good omitted, and vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God. 

All for Jesus, all through Mary, all after thy example, O Patriarch, Saint Joseph. Such shall be my watch-word in life and in death. Amen. (Composed by Pope St. Pius X)

Your Pastor, Father Joe