May 1st is the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker

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Easter: May 1st

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter; Opt. Mem. of St. Joseph the Worker

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Optional Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker: O God, Creator of all things, who laid down for the human race the law of work, graciously grant that by the example of Saint Joseph and under his patronage we may complete the works you set us to do and attain the rewards you promise. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

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The Optional Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in order to Christianize the concept of labor and give to all workmen a model and a protector. By the daily labor in his shop, offered to God with patience and joy, St. Joseph provided for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God, and thus became an example to all laborers. "Workmen and all those laboring in conditions of poverty will have reasons to rejoice rather than grieve, since they have in common with the Holy Family daily preoccupations and cares" (Leo XIII).

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St. Joseph the Worker
"May Day" has long been dedicated to labor and the working man. It falls on the first day of the month that is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Pius XII expressed the hope that this feast would accentuate the dignity of labor and would bring a spiritual dimension to labor unions. It is eminently fitting that St. Joseph, a working man who became the foster-father of Christ and patron of the universal Church, should be honored on this day.

The texts of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours provide a catechetical synthesis of the significance of human labor seen in the light of faith. The Opening Prayer states that God, the creator and ruler of the universe, has called men and women in every age to develop and use their talents for the good of others. The Office of Readings, taken from the document of the Second Vatican Council on the Church in the modern world, develops this idea. In every type of labor, we are obeying the command of God given in Genesis 2:15 and repeated in the responsory for the Office of Readings. The responsory for the Canticle of Zechariah says that "St. Joseph faithfully practiced the carpenter's trade. He is a shining example for all workers." Then, in the second part of the Opening Prayer, we ask that we may do the work that God has asked of us and come to the rewards he has promised. In the Prayer after Communion, we ask: "May our lives manifest your love; may we rejoice forever in your peace."

The liturgy for this feast vindicates the right to work, and this is a message that needs to be heard and heeded in our modern society. In many of the documents issued by Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, the Second Vatican Council and Pope John Paul II, reference is made to the Christian spirit that should permeate one's work, after the example of St. Joseph. In addition to this, there is a special dignity and value to the work done in caring for the family. The Office of Readings contains an excerpt from the Vatican II document on the modern world: "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 benefits on their fellowmen, and help to realize God's plan in history" (no. 34).
—Excerpted from Saints of the Roman Calendar by Enzo Lodi

Patronage: against doubt and hesitation; against pain; dying people; exiles; expectant mothers; families; fathers; happy and holy death; house hunters; immigrants; interior souls; married people; orphans; people who fight Communism; pioneers; pregnant women; social justice; travelers; unborn children

Vocational: accountants; attorneys; barristers; bursars; cabinetmakers; carpenters; cemetery workers; children; civil engineers; confectioners; craftsmen; educators; emigrants; furniture makers; grave diggers; joiners; laborers; lawyers; solicitors; teachers; wheelwrights; workers; working people

Church: Catholic Church; Oblates of Saint Joseph; protection of the Church; Universal Church; Vatican II

Countries: Americas; Austria; Belgium; Bohemia; Canada; China; Croatia; Croatian people; Indonesia; Korea; Mexico; New France; New World; Papal States; Peru; Philippines; Russia; Vatican City; Viet Nam

See CatholicSaints.info for further listings of patronages for dioceses and cities around the world.

Symbols and Representation: Bible; branch; carpenter's square; carpenter's tools; chalice; cross; hand tools; infant Jesus; ladder; lamb; lily; monstrance; old man holding a lily and a carpenter's tool such as a square; old man holding the infant Jesus; plane; rod

Solemnity of St. Joseph; foster-father of Jesus

 

St. Joseph

Feastday: March 19th Patron: of the Universal Church, unborn children, fathers, workers, travelers, immigrants, and a happy death
Death: 18

Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture and that has seemed too little for those who made up legends about him.

We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).

Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal lineage. Luke and Matthew disagree some about the details of Joseph's genealogy but they both mark his descent from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). Indeed the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as "son of David," a royal title used also for Jesus.

We know Joseph was a compassionate, caring man. When he discovered Mary was pregnant after they had been betrothed, he knew the child was not his but was as yet unaware that she was carrying the Son of God. He knew women accused of adultery could be stoned to death, so he resolved to send her away quietly to not expose her to shame or cruelty. However, when an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him, 20 "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins," he did as the angel told him and took Mary as his wife. (Matthew 1:19-25).

When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back (Matthew 2:13-23).

We know Joseph loved Jesus. His one concern was for the safety of this child entrusted to him. Not only did he leave his home to protect Jesus, but upon his return settled in the obscure town of Nazareth out of fear for his life. When Jesus stayed in the Temple we are told Joseph (along with Mary) searched with great anxiety for three days for him (Luke 2:48). We also know that Joseph treated Jesus as his own son for over and over the people of Nazareth say of Jesus, "Is this not the son of Joseph?" (Luke 4:22)

We know Joseph respected God. He followed God's commands in handling the situation with Mary and going to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcised and Mary purified after Jesus' birth. We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.

Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus' public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph probably had died before Jesus entered public ministry.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Apocryphal Date for Joseph's birth is 90 BC in Bethlehem and the Apocryphal Date of his death is July 20, AD 18 in Nazareth.

Joseph is the patron saint of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus' public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth.

Joseph is also patron saint of the Universal Church, families, fathers, expectant mothers (pregnant women), travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general.

We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Husband of Mary and May 1 for Joseph the Worker. March 19 has been the most commonly celebrated feast day for Joseph, and it wasn't until 1955 that Pope Pius XII established the Feast of "St. Joseph the Worker" to be celebrated on May 1. This is also May Day (International Workers' Day) and believed to reflect Joseph's status as the patron of workers.

Many places and churches all over the world are named after St. Joseph, including the Spanish form, San Jose, which is the most commonly named place in the world. Joseph is considered by many to also be the patron saint of the New World; of the countries China, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Peru, Vietnam; of the regions Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol, Sicily; and of several main cities and dioceses.In art, Joseph is typically portrayed as an older man, with grey hair and a beard, often balding, sometimes appearing frail and a marginal figure next to Mary and Jesus, if not entirely in the background. Some statues of Joseph show his staff topped with flowers. St. Joseph is shown with the attributes of a carpenter's square or tools, the infant Jesus, his lily blossomed staff, two turtle doves, or a spikenard.

There is much we still wish we could know about Joseph -- exactly where and when he was born, how he spent his days, exactly when and how he died. But Scripture has left us with the most important knowledge: who he was -- "a righteous man" (Matthew 1:18).

Continue reading about St. Joseph

Day 9 as we conclude the Adoption Novena

 

INTENTION

For Family Members Welcoming Children through Adoption

SCRIPTURE

(Ephesians 3:14-15, 17-19)

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named…that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

SILENT REFLECTION

Pause for a moment of silent reflection.

PRAYER

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

You are one God, living in a relationship

of love.

When Christ became Man,

you shared that divine love with the

human race, forever wedding earth to heaven.

Send your blessings upon all who nurture

children who have been adopted.

Give them generous and

understanding hearts.

Give us all a spirit of understanding and welcome

so that all peoples of every nation, race, and tongue

may live together peacefully as members of your family.

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

PETITION TO ST. JOSEPH

Blessed Joseph,

You took Mary and Jesus into your

home. You followed the prescripts of the Law,

presented Jesus in the Temple,

taught him skills at the plane and the lathe, and,

daily, you shared traditions which were built on the

covenants he came to fulfill.

Hear the prayers of the siblings, grandparents,

aunts, uncles, and entire families of children who

have been adopted.

May they be a source of loving welcome and a

fount of faith.

Through Christ our Lord.



St. Joseph, descendant of David, pray for us.

CONCLUDING PRAYERS

Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be

Day 8 for the St. Joseph Adoption Novena

 

INTENTION

For Adoptive Fathers

SCRIPTURE

(Matthew 1:18-21, 24)

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

SILENT REFLECTION

Pause for a moment of silent reflection.

PRAYER

Fatherhood has its origins in God,

and so we pray to you, Father Almighty,

for those men who have adopted a child.

Give them a mind receptive to your guidance,

a patient voice, and a loving heart.

May they know the joy of following your will and

reflecting your constant and steady love.

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

PETITION TO ST. JOSEPH

St. Joseph, adoptive father of Jesus,

you, too, welcomed a child into your home

because you were obedient to the plan of God.

Give encouragement to all adoptive fathers,

that with the support of their wives,

they might know the joy that comes

from serving as guardian, father, and protector.



St. Joseph, patron of fathers, pray for us.

CONCLUDING PRAYERS

Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be