“Wages
must enable the worker and his family to have access to a truly human standard
of living in the material, social, cultural and spiritual orders. It is the
dignity of the person which constitutes the criterion for judging work, not the
other way around.” – Pope John Paul II
Gospel
text: (Jn 15:1-8)
Jesus
said to his disciples:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine
grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and everyone
that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because
of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a
branch cannot bear fruit on its own
unless it remains on the vine,
so neither
can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever
remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do
nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and
wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be
burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you
want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear
much fruit and become my disciples.”
The Global economy appears to be
failing, as greed and credit spending are thriving. Unemployment is on the rise
while a personal sense of responsibility is collapsing. Family life falling
apart, same-sex "marriage" laws are being forced upon us by a loud
minority, aborting babies is “above our president’s pay-grade”, and a big ugly
culture of death seems to be looming?
Looks
like we need St Joseph the Worker!
In this moment in human history it
appears that the simple and humble reality of being a working man and a father
is under attack. In fact, masculinity, fatherhood, and manhood itself is
in crisis. How direly we need St Joseph the Worker today!
After the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the
greatest model of manhood, fatherhood, masculinity, of a faithful husband, a
provident father who provided the child Jesus with the first and most important
gift a man must give to his children: himself, his own time and attentive,
personal interest, and great loving devotion.
In the
entrance antiphon for today's liturgy, which commemorates the Feast of St.
Joseph the Worker we hear:
Blessed are all who fear the Lord and
walk in his ways!
By the labor of your hands you shall eat;
blessed are you,
and blessed will you be, alleluia.
By the
labor of your hands! Men's hands that have been weakened by a lack of
fear of the Lord and walking in his ways. Such hands grow lazy and
insecure, as such hands find it easier to stretch out and touch what is evil:
porn, booze, drugs, cheating, or perhaps they do not stretch out at all but are
simply lukewarm and soft.
We
need to realize that the work of our hands is redemptive. Work is
holy. St Joseph the Worker shows us this.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
2427 tells us:
"Work
honors the Creator's gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be
redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus, the carpenter
of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain
fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a
disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to
accomplish. Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating
earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ."
A real man is good. He is
morally straight, with his eyes fixed on what is good. Decide to rid
yourself of any mortal sin and even venial faults. Be good in the
goodness of God.
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